Demigod-Wizard Tournament
by ChariBeccar
Summary: Demigods and wizards coming together in one competition to test who is better than the other. Who will win? Who will lose? And more importantly, what pranks did the Stoll brothers think up? Set after the war against Voldemort and the war against Gaia. Adventure, Fun and Love I suck at summaries so don't judge! Rated T because I'm paranoid. Normal pairings, with a lot of fluff!
1. Chapter 1

The Start After the End - Demigods

ANNABETHS P.T.V

I was sleeping. In my dreams I revisited the memories of these past months. _Defeating Gaia, returning to camp, repairing relations with the Romans, two months of pure and undulated happiness with Percy. _It was bliss. I heard an insisting voice waking me up.

"Come on wise girl," murmured Percy. "We need to go, Leo just told me Chiron wants us in the Big House."

I sighed, opening my eyes to the brilliant sun over Percy's head. We were on the beach, he had packed a picnic this morning and after a perfect date I fell asleep on Percy's lap, with him playing with my blond curly hair. After our trip to Tartarus our gray flashes of hair reappeared. I shuddered at the memory.

Percy frowned, worried. With the sun turning his incorrigibly tousled raven-black hair into a halo of light, his captivating sea green eyes flashing with emotion, and his tanned complexion, he really did look like a minor god.

"You look cute when you're worried," I said teasingly. While he grinned that mischievous grin that he was known for, I stood up. Gently I said, "Come on they're all probably waiting for us."

By the time we arrived at the Big House all the other Head Councilors were already there. They shot us amused looks at our tardiness. We made light conversation until Chiron showed up. He had a glint of excitement in his eyes that instantly got adrenaline shooting through me.

"Hi guys. I'm sorry to interrupt you from what you were doing. The thing is an old friend of mine Albus Dumbledore invited us to take part in an inter-school competition." Chiron explained. "You see they just finished a war, the same as us, and he thought that his students could do with a little bit of fun. The whole camp can come but only ten representatives will be chosen to take part in the competitions – so volunteers only, we can decide on those later. Any questions?"

I raised my hand. "Uh yeah, how are we supposed to compete against normal mortals and make it a fair competition, it seems kind of one-sided." People started murmuring, competing against mortals didn't seem fun.

"Oh yeah sorry I forgot to clarify, too excited I suppose," Chiron amended sheepishly. "You see the tournament is going to take place in Hogwarts an amazing school for witches and wizards."

Everything was silent for a moment, and then the room exploded. Some people shouted things such as "What? Wizards!" and the other half laughing at the name "Hogwarts" while the rest of the people just sat there in stunned silence.

Chiron started explaining, "A long time ago Hecate, the goddess of magic, blessed a handful of people with the power to perform magic – even if they need a want to do it. Sort of like Prometheus gave mortals fire. Since then the wizarding community has steadily getting bigger and bigger." He took a breath, "So my old friend Dumbledore invited us to a friendly competition to 'lick our wounds' and maybe even form bonds between demigods and young witches and wizards."

Travis Stoll spoke up, "so, uh, can we get on to the volunteering, please?" When everybody nodded he continued, "I think that the big seven should be part of it for sure," he stated to various nods of approval.

I looked over at Percy who was already looking at him and we had a silent conversation with our eyes communicating our feelings. Grey eyes on green. I saw desire, excitement, and competiveness – which mirrored my own feelings. We both nodded.

"Count us in – I've been craving excitement," Percy said with a lopsided smile. I leaned over to kiss his cheek.

After us seven said yes, after some hesitation – Leo needed reassuring that Calypso would be able to come. Ever since Leo rescued her from the cursed island they were practically inseparable. I nodded in approval, it was surprising but they fit well together.

After a the usual bit of arguing, threats, and a _lot _of Piper's charmspeak to get everybody to calm down we came down to ten representatives for Camp Half-Blood.

Percy

Connor

Annabeth

Leo

Frank

Piper

Hazel

Jason

Travis

Clarisse

We had originally planned on giving the last spot to Nico, but he refused. He said that he preferred being on the sidelines – cheering people on. He then glanced shyly at my and Percy's direction, but I assumed that was just his crush on me. Jason looked worriedly at this exchange. I was confused, but the conversation moved on and I forced myself to pay attention.

Chiron cleared his throat, instantly captivating our attention. "So with that decided we'll be travelling by plane tomorrow-"

Percy and Nico instantly shot up to their feet shouting things such as: "this is suicide" and "Zeus TOLD ME NOT TO fly in the sky, DO YOU WANT TO KILL ME?" There were many people cracking up, me included. I quieted them down by saying "Jason is going to be flying with us, do you think he's going to blast his own son out of the sky, Kelp Head?" They relaxed a little bit – not entirely, but enough to accept the plane ride.

" – Ahem, if I may continue?" He looked at Percy and Nico who nodded consent. "As I was saying, I won't bore you with travelling arrangements, but we'll be arriving at their beginning-of-the-year feast." He paused for just one moment, "remember that they have gone through a war too – so don't be afraid to ask them for help."

And on that happy note, we went to pack.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: I FORGOT TO MENTION THIS IN THE LAST CHAPTER. Sorry, what I meant by Chiron and Dumbledore organizing it I meant Dumbledore's portrait – sorry for not elaborating. **

The Start After the End – Wizards

HERMIONES P.O.V.

I raced to King's Cross Station. Today I was uncharestically late – I would only arrive 5 minutes before the departure. Unfortunately I was making my way to the train alone, I wasn't able to make it to the Burrow this year, my parents were finally starting to accept that I was their daughter. After the _Obliviate _spell I cast last year they had been making a steady recovery. But not fast enough for me.

Platform Nine and ¾. Wall. Push through the crowd. Take care of the trunk. Stop

Crookshanks from injuring a person. Blah, blah, blah.

After searching the whole train for them, I finally found them. My friends. Before making my presence known to them I look at them for a second, enjoying seeing them so happy after a long summer apart. I particularly looked at Ron, my boyfriend. He was smiling, making all the billion freckles he had in his face turn into a constellation.

I entered the compartment, "Hi guys! How are you?" I receive warm greetings from the people around me. But nothing more than an ordinary wave from Ron. I turn to him, "Ronald Weasley, aren't you going to kiss your girlfriend hello?"

There was a loud groan, especially coming from Harry, as Ron obliged (after turning the same color of his hair, fire red). Since we just started dating after the war – and then spent the whole summer apart – it was one of our first kisses together. It was a kiss full of possibilities, promises. It made my heart do a little tap-dance and my stomach drop to the floor.

When we broke apart I snuggled up close to Ron, and listened to the conversation that started when we were showing maybe-a-little-bit-too-much PDA. The main topic was that supposedly Hogwarts was going to be part of a competition– against, get this, demigods. Laughing at the idea we soon moved onto a different topic, condemning the gossipers as unreliable.

We were catching up, laughing. I noticed that Ginny and Harry sat very close to each other and were linking hands. I smiled, they were good together, and I looked up to see Ron hide a look betrayal behind a smile. _So he hasn't gotten over them being together yet, _I mused. I would have to talk to him about that, this couldn't go on.

We were finally acting like normal teenagers, not worrying about Voldemort. We were enjoying the moment when a voice stopped us dead in our tracks. A voice that had caused so much sorrow, so much pain – Fred Weasley.

I look up only to find a young man with bags under his eyes, a badge of honor from so many sleepless nights. Probably awoken by horrible nightmares. I look at the bandage over his ear.

"Hi George!" I say, trying to hide how his voice, which was an exact replica of Fred's had brought back the horrible memory of his death. "What are you doing here?"

He smiled bitterly, obviously knowing the effect he had on people "Hi Hermione, friends, siblings, " nodding to each of us in turn. "I'm sorry for interrupting, but can I sit with you guys? I asked Mrs. McGonagall if I could come back to finish my N.E.W.T.s. I don't think I can continue running the joke shop now that - " George broke off, obviously not wanting to say it aloud. – Fred's dead.

"Sure, come on brother," smiled Ginny.

Everybody was making a forced effort to keep the conversation going but it wasn't the same – I didn't have the same lightness. When we asked George questions he answered in a dead monotone. This new George was so different from the lively and troublesome prankster that it seemed Fred had taken away a part from him when he died. He was a shadow of his former self.

We were arriving to Hogwarts; I could see glimpses of it through the window. After changing into our robes Harry and me left to perform our Head Boy and Girl duties. When we arrived we herded the first years into the boats, and made sure that everything was going smoothly. When we were reassured that it was by Hagrid we joined our friends, and the former-George in the carriage. All of us could see the thestrals now.

After a period of time all the students were sorted (20 new for Gyffindor, 17 for Ravenclaw, 26 for Hufflepuff, and 16 for Slytherin) we patiently waited for Mrs. McGonagall to deliver the yearly speech that would commence the feast. Many people were hoping for a few words, like Ron so they could get on with eating. However she started a speech, which was fine by me.

"Hello, and welcome to another wonderful and magical year at Hogwarts!" She waited for the applause to die down, "First of all I would like to congratulate our three heroes Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger on playing a main role in ending the war against Voldemort." Huge cheers, the enchanted ceiling seemed to shake a little bit. All of us blushed furiously, but we were pleased with the attention, nonetheless.

"To continue, I believe many of you have heard the rumors that we are going to compete against another school in a tournament. I can confirm that we are." She paused, "I can also confirm that the people which we will be competing against are 10… demigods."

When she said that simple word, the hall erupted. Everybody shouting that she was wrong, it wasn't possible. Demigods simply did not exist. I started wondering though, if wizards exist – why shouldn't demigods?

It took a few minutes to get the hall from a booming roar to a dull whispering. When it did McGonagall continued "I'm sure many of you have questions, and so have I – so here's Perseus Jackson, a representative from Camp Half-Blood to answer some of your questions."

The huge doors slammed open.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: I'M SOOOO SORRY! To make it up to you I'm going to create an extra long chapter! THANK YOU soo much for all the follows and reviews- its my first fanfic so its greatly appreciated! **

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything in this fanfic except the plot**

The Encounter

PERCYS P.O.V.

_A few hours earlier _

Before boarding the plane Calypso and Leo ditched us. They said that they were going to take a detour to France to eat some baguettes and croissants. When they told us Leo had a demonic grin, while Calypso was blushing. I smiled at both of them - they were good together, at the beginning I was worried that the relationship between Calypso and me was going to be awkward, strained even; but thankfully that wasn't the case. So while I was encased in a metal coffin praying that my uncle wouldn't shoot me out of the sky, they were having a romantic date in _Paris. _

I was hoping that the metal detector would stop us since Travis and Connor brought enough 'pranking supplies' to give any security officer in any airport a heart attack. Sadly they knew how to control the mist so I had no way out. When we boarded the plane I was shaking, out of the corner of my eye I could see Nico in the same state as me.

Thankfully we were in a private plane that Hecate had rented for us – apparently she fully supported this project of uniting the wizarding world with demigods. She sent us a letter that read something like this:

_Dear Campers,_

_ I hope you have a good time in your tournament, since this will provide a lot of amusement for me I went through the trouble of acquiring a plane for you guys (hey nobody said that gods weren't rich!). Also, I can't risk the safety of all the passengers you would've traveled with if you flew commercial. I'm sorry Percy and Nico but you're too dangerous when you're flying, with Zeus and all. Anyways, have fun, and I will place a security border around the school so monsters don't attack anyone during the duration of the tournament._

_Be Magical,_

_Hecate_

So yeah, that didn't help that much. When we got in I started praying to Zeus. "Um, hi all-mighty Zeus! I'm sorry to disturb you and stuff but I'm going to be flying across your domain soon. Since I saved Olympus twice I was hoping that, um, you could maybe, uh, not shoot me out of the sky?" I paused, considering, "Oh yeah, and also Jason is in the plane so you would be endangering him too…"

When I said that the plane went through a little bit of turbulence that turned me the same color of a ghost or, well, Nico. All the campers shot me amused looks, and Annabeth leaned in.

"Come on Seaweed Brain you know nothing would happen," she said comfortingly. She leaned in and kissed me – making me momentarily forget everything, even that I was currently flying, in an airplane. She then snuggled close to me, falling asleep. I resumed praying.

- Time skip -

When we first saw the castle all of our jaws dropped. Annabeth was in shock, but minutes later she started commenting on the architecture, and how everything fit together perfectly. Everything was, well, magical. The castle shone, illuminated by all the lanterns. I could see Hogwarts' reflection on a lake, which instantly made me excited. All of us were talking in shushed voices afraid to break the spell.

"Has anyone seen Leo and Calypso?" Piper said, and all of us groaned. Typical. We were going to make the best first impression, with one of our representatives missing.

When we finally made it into the entrance we were met by a half-giant with a bushy hair and beard. At first we were tense, seeing as we had just fought a war against the giants. When he greeted us it was with happiness and admiration, however, putting our worries at rest.

"Demigods! Welcome to Hogwarts!" He called happily, "I'll escort you to the Great Hall, just leave your luggage here and the house elves will take care of it."

All of us crowded into the entrance, the Stolls accidentally bumping into Hagrid, muttering that they were sorry. The castle was even more impressive from the inside, with spiraling staircases, high ceilings, and lanterns.

"Why are there lanterns and not regular lights?" Asked Hazel.

"Oh, magic and muggle-things such as electricity don't mix, so we stay old school" Hagrid replied cheerily, obviously used to answering that question. "Just wait here until McGonagall summons you, you will hear it through the big doors. The whole school will be looking – but don't be nervous."

He then excused himself, saying that he had to go make an appearance in the teacher's table. We were all speaking in low voices, wondering what wizards looked like. And more importantly, how they would react to us. We heard laughing echoing through the hall. One sounded slightly demonic, while the other sounded like music. We turned expectantly, knowing who was going to appear.

Running towards us came Leo and Calypso, flushed from laughing and running. Leo started talking. "I'm sorry we're late it's just that my anniversary shirt for Calypso wasn't ready yet –so we had to wait a little bit." He winked at her.

When we saw Calypso's shirt we all burst out laughing. It was a black shirt with big capital letters that said "TEAM LEO!" In her stomach there was Leo's outline in fiery red, with him smirking. She turned around, which brought a fresh bout of giggles. It said, "SCRAWNY HUNKS BEATING NARCISISTIC BOYS SINCE 1957." Hazel laughed the hardest at that, obviously remembering that time Leo converted various nymphs to his 'team.'

We were still laughing when we heard a commanding voice say, "Here's Perseus Jackson, a representative from Camp Half-Blood to answer some of your questions."

I turned red at the mention of my real name. I was also nervous of all the attention that I would be receiving in a second. Annabeth giggled and whispered in my ear "just be your charming self, Seaweed Brain."

The huge doors slammed open.

HARRYS P.O.V.

We all turned around to the entrance, when Ginny turned around I caught scent of her hair, making my heart flutter. I made myself concentrate on the newcomers.

There were 120 or so very tanned, athletic teenagers ranging from the ages of 12 to about 20. There were ten demigods in front of everybody; I assumed they were the people who would be competing in the tournament. There was a guy in the middle of everything that looked like me. He had the same tousled raven-black hair and green eyes, but the similarities stopped there. He wore his tousled hair proudly, while I always tried to smooth mine out – and his eyes were sea green rather than emerald green. He was also taller, tanner, and more muscular. I noticed that there were many girls whispering and giggling over his appearance, it was such a useless emotions. This are all the other competitors:

A very beautiful girl. She had curly blonde hair with stormy gray eyes that seem to analyze everything.

An Asian guy who looked like a body builder. He was tall, muscular, and very sure of himself.

A girl with an African-American complexion, with golden eyes, and brown hair.

A guy with a blonde military-style buzz cut. He had icy-blue eyes. Very rugged.

A girl with a caramel colored braid. She had every-changing eyes and an aura that radiated love.

A very burly girl, she looked mean and ready to beat somebody up.

There were two guys that looked the same. Mischievous expressions on faces that looked like they were ready to steal something from you. They even had arched eyebrows; one was taller than the other one but the differences ended there.

All of the campers were wearing orange shirts with writing on it that looked Greek; except one girl, who was wearing a black shirt with something written on it that looked mysteriously like "TEAM LEO!"

The ten teenagers went up to the front of the hall; my doppelgänger flashed Mrs. McGonagall a charming, lopsided smile that had all the girls swooning.

"Excuse me Mrs. McGonagall," He said in a deep voice, "Could we maybe have a table to eat in, I'm afraid it was a long flight and all the campers are hungry."

Mrs. McGonagall replied with a "yes of course" and I could swear she was blushing a little bit. She muttered something under her breath, flicked her wand and a table appeared besides the Gryffindor one, with food and everything. The guy with the black hair started speaking

"Hello I'm Percy Jackson," he said. "We are all demigods, and I would like to start by thanking you guys by welcoming us to your school." He had to pause here a little bit for the cheers that were especially coming from the females in the crowd. "Is anyone here familiar with Greek mythology?"

All of us looked at Hermione, she blushed a little bit but started explaining anyways, "there are 12 Olympian gods, and sometimes they would come down to the mortal world. They would fall in love and would, um, have babies with these mortals. The result of this was children that were half god, and half mortal. They usually inherit powers from their godly parent. But it's a myth, not real!" She finished.

The demigods all laughed, used to this reaction. The girl with the curly blonde hair stepped up "Hello there, I'm Annabeth," she paused, collecting her thoughts. "This is the usual reaction have when they hear the news, but it's true! The mythological world has been living side by side with the mortal (and apparently the wizarding as well) since the very beginning! Remember all of the damage done to Greece a few months back from natural disasters?" When a few of us nodded she continued, "well what it really was the war that we were having, against Gaia (or as many as you know it, earth)"

When she said this all of us sort of sat there in stunned silence. I looked at Malfoy, expecting him to start catcalling. However ever since the war he's been, well, nice. He even said hello to me on the train, and didn't insult me, at all. He didn't even call Hermione a mudblood! Draco saw me looking at him and smiled a little bit, nodding. If anything that shocked me even more than knowing that Greek gods existed. One by one the 10 teenagers started introducing themselves.

"I'm Clarisse, daughter of Ares; god of war," she said gruffly, glaring at us. "My specialty is fighting, especially hand to hand combat."

The next girl stepped up anxiously, obviously trying to excuse the behavior of Clarisse. "Hi guys! I'm Piper, daughter of Aphrodite; goddess of love, beauty and sexuality," she paused blushing at the last one. "My powers include charmspeak - "

She broke of when the curly haired guy interrupted hair "For any of you who don't know charmspeak is when the speaker can make you follow their commands," He paused for dramatic effect. "Yeah, I know, Beauty Queen over here is quite the powerful one" He finished, smirking.

Piper continued, shooting the curly-hair a glare, "yeah you could say. I'm also pretty handy with the knife."

"Leo here, son of Hephaestus; god of fire, volcanoes, and making stuff" Curly-hair said. "My powers include making anything out of anything and I can also create fire, which is pretty rare." He demonstrated, shooting white-hot fire out of his hands, "Oh and also, scrawny is the new brawny," he added winking at the girl with the black t-shirt, who was cracking up.

The Asian guy stepped up, "Um, hello there my name is Frank son of Mars; god of war and defense," he frowned "or Mars in Roman mythology. So anyways my powers include: turning into anything I want to, i.e. a dragon, lion. I can strategize well, and I'm good with any weapon – especially bow and arrows." He finished. I noticed that he included defense in the description of his dad, while Clarisse only mentioned war.

"Wow this is really intimidating," muttered the girl with the golden eyes. "So my name is Hazel, daughter of Hades, or Pluto if you're into Roman mythology; god of the underworld, death, and wealth." She broke off, waiting for the mutters to die down, "so my powers include, um, I can summon any sort of wealth from the ground. Like gold, coins, even weapons. I can swordfight, and I can sense anything when I'm underground."

"You already met me but whatever, I'm Annabeth. Daughter of Athena; goddess of wisdom and battle strategy." She broke off, considering, "my powers include… um… uh"

Percy jumped in, "she can kick butt at fighting, especially with knives and swords," He stated, confidently. "She is an awesome strategist, she is super duper intelligent, and she keeps us all together. Annabeth is the official architect of Olympus and she defeated Arachne with nothing but her wits. She retrieved the Athena Parthenon, oh yeah and this one time she - "

"Percy STOP!" Annabeth shouted, blushing furiously, but at the same time she seemed to be thanking Percy with her eyes. "So yeah, I, uh, guess that's it. Thank you Percy for over-selling me." She finished this with a teasing glare.

"Hello witches and wizards my name is Jason Grace. I am the son of Zeus, Jupiter for Romans; god of the sky and the ruler of the Olympian gods," he said, formally. "My powers include flying, I can sword fight well, I can control the winds, and summon lighting." He finished with a formal nod and stepping back, I noted some of the other campers rolling their eyes at his business-like attitude.

"Hello there, I am Travis Stoll – professional prankster, my hobbies include attracting girls with my charm - " He started confidently and jokingly.

"Oh please, I'm definitely better good-looking," his look-a-like started. "And taller, now that I think of it. I'm Stoll, Connor Stoll, by the way."

"We're not twins," they said in unison. "And don't introduce yourself as if you're James Bond," continued Travis.

"Anyways, our father is Hermes; god of sleep, athletics, wealth, good fortune," Connor paused. "And fertility," he finished wiggling his eyebrows at some girl in the Hufflepuff.

"But, alas my friends, that is not all!" Travis shouted dramatically, "He is the messenger of the gods, and I think he might also hold the title for the 'minor patron of poetry', even though he's not that good at it. Are we missing anything Connor?"

They grinned at each other. "Thieves." Travis said

"He is the god of thieves, and everything that comes with it," said Connor, "Things such as cunning, shrewdness, and being fast."

"By the way Hagrid, I believe we forgot to return this," said Travis, in wmock regret. "By the way, she's a very beautiful young woman you got there, and she's taller than you, my god! What a girl!" He said enthusiastically

He handed Hagrid a picture that I assumed, and so did everyone else, that it contained picture of Hagrid and his girlfriend, Madame Olympe Maxime – the headmistress at Beauxbatons. We all burst out laughing, while Annabeth reprimanded the twins in barely contained laughter at their prank. Under his hair and beard Hagrid turned as red as the Weasley's hair in embarrassment and horror. I looked over and my eyes widened in amazement. George. Was. Laughing. This was the first time that any of us had seen George show any emotion since Fred's death. I looked over at the Stolls in amazement maybe they could help George. I made a note in my head to continue that idea later.

"Um, I'm so sorry Hagrid – I think that everybody already knows that the Stolls powers consist of 'thieves' part of Hermes' powers" Annabeth said apologetically.

"Hey!" shouted Connor indignantly. "We prefer the term pranksters!" That set off George again, whispering brilliant between his laughs.

"Hi again, I'm Percy. My father is Poseidon; god of the sea, earthquakes." Started Percy confidently, "I can swordfight fairly well, create an earthquake and a storm, talk to horses, and control the sea – I can do anything with water, basically," he finished with a mischievous grin.

"Oh Percy! You are sooo hot!" started Travis.

"OMG SOOO TRUE! And you are so powerful!" He scooted in squeezing Percy's biceps. "Not to mention that you're the hero of Olympus!"

"Give me an autograph please?" cried Travis; "I bet I can get cash for it on OlympusBay!" Percy was laughing and turning red in embarrassment at the same time.

"Okay, that's enough guys," interrupted Frank. He looked at us, "any questions?"

**A/N: YAY the Stolls are making George laugh! I actually had a plan to continue this, but it turned out too long. So I'll update soon with the second part of this chapter. OH ALSO THANKS YOU SOOO MUCH FOR ALL THE PEOPLE THAT ARE READING THIS STORY! (Tell me if you like this length better, or if I should make the chapters longer or shorter) **


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the plot and I can confirm I'm not making any money.**

Gossip, Gossip, Gossip

RONS P.O.V.

"Any questions?" Asked Frank, nobody answered – either people were too scared, or the representatives had explained everything perfectly. All the demigods nodded, returning to their table. I saw Percy slip his arms around Annabeth and mutter something softly so that only she could hear it. She laughed and replied that sounded strangely like Seaweed Brain, and kissed him in the cheek. Effectively dashing the hopes of every single guy and girl in the hall.

There was a commotion outside the hall. The doors slammed open, again. A guy that looked around his 50s came in, sporting a hat, a coaching whistle, and a bat on his hands. He shouted "Let's kick some wizarding butt!" he looked around, and when he finally sighted the demigods he said, "Frank Zhang, the godfather of my child, tell me you aren't glad to see me chaperone the campers?"

He called up to Mrs. McGonagall "Hello there my name is Coach Hedge, sorry I'm late – had some trouble getting here, um," He paused, thinking, "oh yeah, Chiron sent me to chaperon, apparently he's in the first vacation he has had in a millennia or something, anyways if you'll excuse me, I'm hungry!" And with that the walked off, leaving a very stunned Mrs. McGonagall opening and closing her mouth, this was the first time I've ever seen the stern teach loose her composure and it was hilarious.

"What do you think he coaches?" I asked, causing some people to laugh.

"Probably over-attachment to violence or something," replied Ginny. "Did you see that bat?"

"What do you think?" said Dean excitedly.

"Of what?" answered Neville, a little bit dumbly.

"Of the demigods!" gushed Parvati. "I can totally believe they're half god, I mean did you see the Harry look a like? They are so attractive!"

"Hey! I resent that!" said Harry, his pride obviously hurt.

"Don't worry Harry, I dig the glasses and the scar better," teased Ginny "and didn't you hear that Leo guy? Scrawny is the new brawny!"

"God, I need to have a t-shirt that says that," said Harry.

"Didn't you hear them, Harry?" asked Seamus. "It's _gods _now"

"Guys we aren't getting to the most important part!" said Hermione. Everybody except me looked at her confusedly, I knew what she was getting at.

"Who's going to represent us," I clarified; Hermione shot me a surprised look – obviously not used to me answering with the correct answer. Dessert appeared, and with it my happiness.

"Well, Harry Hermione and Ron are obviously going to be part of it," said Neville.

We blushed, until an idea came up to me. "But wait, do you think that there's going to have to be at least one representative from each House?"

"Not Slytherin!" groaned Ginny.

As if on cue Mrs. McGonagall stood up instantly capturing the attention of every person in the room. "Students of Hogwarts, you might have been wondering who's going to represent Hogwarts in this tournament," this caused the demigods to start examining the room. "As there are four Houses, after dinner tonight, I want each House in their common room to come up with a list of five representatives they would like to see compete. We as teachers will then pick who we see fit to be our competitors." She paused, and to make sure everybody got it, "yes there will be at least one representative from each house."

Many people groaned, looking towards Slytherin. I looked over at Malfoy who seemed to be watching the pale guy with the skull ring on his fingers over at the demigod table. When he glanced up and saw me watching him he blushed. I frowned, _what the hell was going on? _

Mrs. McGonagall stood up, preparing to dismiss us, "The tournament is not only a chance to compete, but also to make friends. So don't be afraid to go over to the demigods talk to them. Each House will give the Head Boy and Girl their lists; they would then give it to me. The rules will be announced tomorrow at breakfast, along with the ten competitors. Welcome back to Hogwarts, both the wizards and the demigods. Let's have fun!" She finished. We stood up and left for our common rooms.

Once we got to the Gryffindor common room Harry performed a spell to put all the furniture in a circle, so all the members of the Gryffindor House would be looking at each other when we decided who was going to represent us.

Harry started, "So, why don't we split into years and then each individual year group can bring up their lists?"

"That would take too long, Harry," Hermione said, "I, for one, am exhausted and I want to go to sleep."

"Everybody shout out who you want to be our representative, Hermione can write them down and then we can vote at then," said Ginny.

Everybody nodded, I started by saying "I nominate Harry Potter." Harry looked at me, and nodded

"I nominate Ronald Weasley." Harry replied, and I felt pride shoot through me.

A first year said, "I nominate Neville." Everybody looked at him; he blushed and said, "Well, he did decapitate that snake."

Harry laughed, "That he did, good nomination mate." The first year, if possible, turned even redder.

The names went on and on, and on. There were candidates from each year. In the end, after a lot of discussion we settled on six people.

Ron

George

Harry

Hermione

Ginny

Neville

I know that there were only supposed to be five candidates, but I think Mrs. McGonagall will let this one slide. Harry and Hermione grabbed our list, muttering about going to the dungeon to collect Slytherin's. When they came back they asked me if I wanted to come with them to meet the demigods. Apparently as they were the Heads of the school McGonagall had told them to go make sure everything was comfortable. What was even more surprising was George nervously asking if he could come with us.

"Apparently Hogwarts first started as a school the founders hosted many guest," Hermione informed us. "To attract more students or something, the point is that there are about 200 rooms in a section of Hogwarts no student has ever been too. Besides the teacher's rooms."

"I've been there, you're talking about the deserted rooms right?" asked George "I've been there when me and Fred were exploring the school." He broke off with a pained expression. I clapped my brother in the back; familiar with a fraction of the grief he was feeling.

With George leading the way we made it to the demigods rooms in about half of the time we would have made it in our own. We arrived to a very richly furnished common room with many staircases leading up to various rooms. The scene in front of us made us stop in our tracks, we had arrived to chaos.

In a corner there were a group of around eight kids with grey eyes quizzing each other in college level topics. The older kid was fifteen. Mean looking demigods were shouting bloody murder at each other over who cheated and who won in their card game – while Clarisse sat there with her eyes closed, as if enjoying the noise. Girls that looked like the popular, pretty girls at school were shouting at the Stoll brothers over something that sounded that they had stolen all their makeup or something. George left us to join them. To add noise to the already deafening roar there were very muscular girls and guys making very high-tech looking gadgets.

We looked over at the fireplace where a couple of teenagers were sitting; we headed over and Harry started talking.

"Um, hey guys, my name is, uh, Harry Potter" he started. "Sorry for interrupting it's just that we came over to check if everything was comfortable?" He made it sound like a question.

"Everything is fine, thanks for everything guys!" Hazel said she frowned at the sitting arrangements, "guys move over, make place for the wizards!"

When we were sat comfortably Hermione introduced us, "Hi! My name is Hermione, that's Harry, and Ron." She said, pointing at each of us in turn. "Oh yeah, and the redhead over there is George." We all turned to see George and the Stolls in a deep conversation. I frowned; ever since Fred's death my brother hasn't exactly been 'social'.

"So, tell us about yourselves," invited Annabeth. "And also, can you tell us about your war? We're very curious."

We nodded; I started with the story, "So basically there was this super evil wizard named Voldemort who was trying to make the wizarding race 'purer' - "

"When anybody talks about making the race into something better it always ends bad, doesn't it?" asked Percy. Annabeth looked at him in surprise.

"Um, yeah I guess it does, so anyways," I continued. "When Harry was small Voldemort tried to kill him with the killing curse, but Harry survived. The curse rebounded on Voldemort evaporating him. But Harry survived; a one year old ended the war and survived the killing curse, which was technically impossible. He was labeled 'the boy who lived' and 'the chosen one'." The demigods looked at Harry with admiration in their eyes.

Hermione took it from there, "when Harry came to Hogwarts, however, Voldemort started to regain power and eventually came back. After a few years filled with pain, suffering, and fear Harry beat Voldemort, again, and ended the war, again." She paused "That was about three months ago, we're still getting used to peace."

The demigods nodded and Piper asked, "how did Harry get involved when he was so young in a war? Was it like a family feud or something?"

"There was this one prophecy," started Harry in a defeated tone.

"Oh no way, you had a prophecy too?" Percy asked.

"Uh, yeah" said Harry.

"No way I hate those! I had two of them and they seriously ruined my life!" complained Percy.

"Right?" Harry said excitedly.

"Dude I can't believe you were part of a prophecy too!" Percy reached over and did one of the weird fist-bump-hand-shake-hand-slap things us guys do. They laughed, obviously an inside joke between famous heroes.

"So what about you guys?"

"No" Percy said, looking at Annabeth who had opened her mouth to speak.

"Percy come on!" Annabeth said, "What are you? Self-conscious?"

"No" Percy shouted, his voice going an octave higher.

"Yes" said Frank at the same time. When Percy looked at him, obviously hurt, Frank continued, "I'm sorry Perce! Besides it's not like Annabeth told me to answer like this or anything."

"Go on Seaweed Brain," Annabeth said forcefully, while glaring daggers at Frank who was rapidly losing courage. Percy huffed a sigh of exasperation.

"My name is Perseus Jackson, son of Poseidon god of the sea and earthquakes. Slayer of the Minotaur; retriever of Zeus's lightning bolt; slayer of Medusa; retriever of the Golden Fleece; momentary holder of the sky; survivor of Daedalus' labyrinth; holder of the Achilles curse; savior of Olympus in the war against Kronos; slayer of the giant Polybotes; momentary praetor of New Rome; survivor of Tartarus; and savior of Olympus in the war against Gaia," finished Percy, obviously embarrassed.

"He's also liked by Artemis," Leo said, "who hates men."

"And Dionysus," Connor Stoll continued, joining in with the conversation, "who hates heroes."

"And Hades," finished Travis, "who dislikes humans." The demigods started laughing at the comments but us wizards didn't. Maybe because we didn't actually know these three gods and goddess, but maybe because we were too in awe of Percy to actually form a coherent thought.

"Wow," I said, George, Harry, and Hermione nodded along with me.

"See Annabeth! This is why I didn't want to tell them," Percy complained. "They are intimidated or something." He looked at us, "look most of these accomplishments were done with Annabeth here and my friend Grover – it wasn't just all me."

"Just like you Perce to try to sound less impressive that you actually are," commented the pale guy with the skull ring on his finger. "Anyways, my name is Nico and there is no way I'm saying my title after that one so let's move on shall we?" Everybody nodded.

"Who's going to represent Hogwarts in the tournament?" asked Jason.

"Well obviously the Golden Trio over here," answered George. We looked up at that nickname.

"We asked people to stop calling us that!" I frowned, while George stuck out his tongue at me. That made me frown even harder, how did he change so much since the train ride? The Stolls started laughing at the nickname, muttering about how they should call Percy, Annabeth and a guy named Grover that.

"The bad thing is that there has to be one representative from each House, so that means that a person from Slytherin is going to be in our group," complained Harry.

"Why are they so bad," said a musical voice. Everybody started in surprise at the newcomer's voice. A pretty girl blushed. Correction: she wasn't pretty, she was beautiful – and she wasn't even trying to be beautiful she just was. She had a caramel colored braid and dark, almond-shaped eyes. She started talking, "I'm Calypso, by the way. Sorry I'm late I was planting some moonlace in my balcony." Percy looked up at the plant's name and smiled.

"You know that the moonlace is still blooming like crazy in my balcony, right?" Percy asked, and Calypso nodded smiling slightly. She looked around and furrowed her eyebrows when she saw that there was no available seating space.

"Come over here babe," teased Leo, patting his lap. She laughed and went to sit down, when she passed through the circle the scent of cinnamon reached our ears. She kissed Leo's cheek and whispered something in his ears, making Leo smirk.

"So, um, what's wrong with Slytherin?" asked Frank.

"Almost all of the dark wizards have come out of Slytherin, ever," I said.

"They are pretty douchey," confirmed Harry, I nodded.

"The problem is that they take one of the main traits of their House which is cunning and use it to the wrong reasons," confirmed Hermione.

"But Malfoy has been, uh, _nice_ to me after the war," said Harry. We all nodded, we had

seen it in action.

"Who's Malfoy?" Asked Nico.

"He's a blonde guy with silver eyes in Slytherin," Hermione continued, "he used to torment Harry, Ron, and me all the way through our six years at Hogwarts. He was even responsible for killing Dumbledore, one of the greatest men and wizards ever and our old headmaster. He chose the dark side, but was pardoned in the trials. Ever since he's been transformed into an actual human being."

"That's Draco Malfoy in a nutshell." I confirmed. Nico nodded and muttered something under his breath that sounded like "I noticed him" while blushing slightly.

Hermione looked at the watch in the wall, when she saw the time she gave a strangled sound. She stood up and said something that sounded like, I'm sorry but we need to go – it's really late and we have a busy day tomorrow. We all said our goodbyes (Harry and Percy laughing about a thing or another), and left. We had to drag George after us; apparently he was discussing a matter of life and death with the Stolls.

**A/N: Sorry for such a bad chapter end! I made it a little bit longer this time. Anyways if you guys have any ideas over pranks the Stolls can do, or maybe an event for the tournament that you want to see happen just tell me in the reviews and I'll make it happen! Thanks for everything, and keep enjoying!**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: I'm so SORRY. I was on vacation to Holland for four days and I couldn't concentrate thanks to my awesome, ninja, robot-like friend Selina. So if you want somebody to blame, go rage at her.**

Training

Nicos P.O.V

I was dreaming of a certain pair of sea-green eyes sparkling with laughter and life when I was woken up by my alarm cloak to a much very dull setting, some might call it reality. Groaning, I unsuccessfully tried to jump into the shower without actually looking at my reflection – an, unremarkable, skinny, pale boy. After finishing, I started putting on my favorite clothes: black trousers, a black shirt, black shoes, and you guessed it a black jacket – this all went with his favorite rainbow socks. I grabbed my sword and headed downstairs for breakfast, using one of the ghosts as my tour guide through all the secret passages.

When I arrived to the Great Hall I received my daily share of suspicious glances and mutterings; I guess it had something to do with the way the shadows clung to me. I blushed a little bit and looked up to find a pair of silver eyes staring back at me. Black on silver. The boy, Draco, gave me a little smile and looked down – if it was possible I blushed even more, gods, I wasn't doing a very good job of keeping up this son-of-Hades-therefore-very-pale-and-has-a-no-emot ion-weirdo-demeanor.

"Hey Nico!" I heard a deep voice shout, "Over here cuz!" I winced and headed over where Percy was motioning for me to sit. Ah Percy, so painfully oblivious.

I forced a grin that probably had the same happiness in it than melting ice creams, and forced myself to focus on the conversation.

"So, apparently the Ministry of Magic – it's like the government of the magic world – has asked us to teach a few classes hand-to-hand combat." Annabeth informed us, and when people started to complain Annabeth talked over them, "When wizards lose their wands in a fight they're as good as dead, we need to change that. It could help save lives – we all know how important that is." She added meaningfully, and just like that she had manipulated all the campers into submission.

"We have over a hundred campers, how many students are there in each class?" Asked Piper.

"There are about forty to fifty kids in one class," The Stoll brothers told us. And when all of us looked surprised that they knew the answer they protested, "George told us!"

"Who's George?" Asked Chris, Clarisse's boyfriend.

"He's the oldest redhead," added Piper.

"Guys, he's really cool you should hear the pranks he has done - " Travis started.

"All right," interrupted Percy, "anyways I think that the representatives and Nico should just take over the classes, and all the other kids can just do whatever they like. Remember what Chiron told us: if any of you want or have to go home just inform him over IM, he will make the arrangements."

When everybody started nodding Mrs. McGonagall stood up, "Good morning students, for all of you who haven't bothered to check the competitors that are going to be representing Hogwarts," she paused to glare at some boys over at Slytherin. "Here they are, Harry Potter – Draco Malfoy – Hermione Granger – George Weasley – Ginny Weasley – Ron Weasley – Luna Lovegood – Zacharias Smith – Ernie MacMillan – and Neville Longbottom!" She finished and sat down, she could be heard muttering about how many Weasleys they had elected to be in the competition.

I looked up at all the competitors getting pounded on the back from the people around them, some looked nervous, some excited, and some looked like they had expected all along to be picked. But all of them were happy, especially that Draco guy he had a smile so bright and wide and genuine that it was crinkling his eyes and his cheeks were flushed and –

I stopped myself, I had to stop, right then Percy leaned over and started whispering to me, making my skin tingle and my heart flutter, "Hey Nico, I sort of uh, need your help for an anniversary present for Annabeth – talk to you later about it, okay?" He asked.

So instead of tingling, my skin went cold all over. My heart clenched and then dropped to somewhere around my feet. I nodded, swallowing painfully and looking at my hands. When they dismissed us the ten competitors and I started walking towards some grounds that Mrs. McGonagall had provided us to practice in. Apparently Chiron already knew about this arrangement and sent around half of our weapons across the Atlantic. On a plane. Through security. Gods, gotta love the mist. On the way there we started discussing the rumor that was spreading across the campus.

"So, why are we doing capture the flag and Quidditch first? We already know them, they're so _typical_ for us" Clarisse said, to many nodding heads, "they're so boring!"

"They want to ease us into the competition," explained Annabeth, "a practice round if you will. And since only choosing one is preference, we're only doing the two. We're starting in two weeks – so that each side has time to prepare for it."

By that time we arrived, and since we were a little bit late, the 7th years were already in a line standing in front of us. I saw a lot of red and green, Slytherin and Gryffindor. The two houses that hate each other, this was going to be great. Jason started of the lesson.

"Hello there and good morning, so the reason why we're going to be taking up some of your Defense Against the Dark Arts classes is because many people in the Ministry of Magic have noticed that when wizards lose their wands, they have no capacity to fight in hand-to-hand combat at all." He continued, "that is why they asked us, while we were at Hogwarts, to try to teach all the skills we know on different types of fighting. Mainly bow and arrow, and sword, and dagger fighting." When Clarisse cleared her throat he hastily added, "and spear, of course. Keep in mind that not every weapon might be best for you, we will try to find the one that fits you better"

Percy took it from there, "So basically we have experts in both Greek and Roman style of fighting. If you have noticed that you like to be more orderly and sort of organized in the way you do things please form a group around Jason." While people were moving around his voice carried over the din, "to the people that are more spontaneous, and generally more fun," he added with a wink at Frank and Hazel, "Form a group around me, and from then we'll decide with what weapons better fit you as a person from those Roman and Greek groups."

After everybody got organized, and got their teachers; Percy and me teaching Greek sword fighting; Annabeth teaching dagger fighting in the Roman group (she had taken an extra course to 'extend' her knowledge); Clarisse teaching spear fighting in Greek style; Travis and Connor teaching bow and arrow; Jason and Hazel sword fighting in the Roman style; Frank teaching spear fighting because he's the son of Mars, he's supposed to be amazing at every single weapon, like ever invented; and Piper was teaching dagger fighting in the Greek group, she had grown rather fond of it after the war. Leo and Calypso, needless to say, were not the fighting type of people, so they were creating better dummies and target practices for us to practice in (they were also handing out lemonade, which I found kind of weird – but it seemed like an inside joke to them).

When everything was organized Percy and me turned to our 'students' there was a variety of Slytherin, Gryffindor, boy and girl. I glanced at Percy, already knowing what he was thinking.

"I'll take the Slytherins," I offered, Percy looked a little bit surprised, but nodded anyways. The girls in Gryffindor looked excited and giggly at this new arrangement, while the ones over at Slytherin shot them envious glances – myself included.

I turned around to find some mean looking kids looking back at me, perfect, my kind of crowd. I started showing them the basic motions of sword fighting, and to my surprise they picked it up incredibly quickly, they soon lost all traces of self-consciousness. After thirty minutes I decided that it was time to move on to harder and more complicated moves, I needed a volunteer.

"You," I pointed at Draco, "I need a partner to show the class, come on," I blushed a little bit at the word 'partner' but quickly brushed it from my mind.

After explaining some other moves to the class, Draco and me started sparring. At the beginning I was toying with him, I mean I was an expert at sword fighting! But as we got more and more into the fight my brow started to furrow in concentration – all traces that it was a game gone. We danced around each other sometimes as far from each other as the full lengths of the swords, and sometimes with our skins almost touching; sending shivers down my spine. We were jumping, sliding, whirling, and by the end we were both breathing heavily, but I sensed an opening. I took it, and disarmed him with a move that Percy showed me when I first arrived at Camp Half-Blood. We stopped there, me pointing my sword at his neck, both our chests falling up and down rapidly. I grinned and congratulated him; he nodded with a mischievous glint in his eyes that I didn't quite understand.

"So, Draco here is a great example of a natural, he was born with the talent. If you were paying attention you would have noticed the movements of our feet - " I stopped when the world flipped over. I hit my head against the ground and everything went black for a second, I opened my eyes to Draco holding his hand out to me and grinning like a madman.

"Remember at the beginning of the lesson when you said we never, ever, EVER, turned our backs to our opponents" mocked Draco, "_especially _when it's not for sure the fight is over."

Bursting out laughing, I marveled at the fact that this stranger had the ability to make me truly, and wholeheartedly laugh my head off. It felt so good to just _laugh_, there was nothing to it – it felt like I was finally taking flight after being chained to the floor for a really long time. And for the first time in weeks, hell even months I wasn't thinking of Percy Jackson, the hero. Still laughing I accepted the hand from the boy with silver eyes and turned to the class.

"As you can see, Draco has just taught us an amazing and important lesson," I said and the class started laughing again, Draco was chuckling. "That is all for today, I'll see you next class, and remember. Practice doesn't make perfect. _Perfect_ practice makes perfect, so you guys try to go out and practice with or without each other as much as you can." I leaned in and whispered "and maybe I'm just saying maybe," I said with a wink, "we're going to have a little competitions with the Gryffindors, so you guys – this is important because I really want to beat Percy over there."

When the class was dismissed all of the 'instructors' started gushing about their students, but I remained silent – happy to know that I had a secret weapon, I had Draco.

**A/N: Again I'm sorry, anyways, im going to try to update as soon as I can probably in one or two days, REVIEW PLEASE! Tell me if you like this 'Drico' pairing! Thank you Selina for inspiration.**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Somebody mentioned that Nico got over Percy in HoH, well… too bad, he's **_**getting**_** over Percy in this book. Also Annabeth's nickname for Percy IS Seaweed Brain – but they use others as well, so enough of me wasting your time, let's get on with the story!**

Strategizing

Ginny's P.O.V.

We were in the middle of our fourth capture-the-flag practice, after this one we would only have three more practices to prepare ourselves for the event. We had tried different tactics but we still hadn't found a super spectacular one. A tactic that would make the demigods shake in fear.

"So, uh, should we try the exercise again? George you pick the teams," said Harry. I noticed the slight hesitation Harry had while giving orders, and I loved it. How could he be my Harry if not? I know that he was feeling even more insecure now that this demigod-but-really-a-god Percy guy had showed up. He had to remember, though, that he _was_ the Chosen One. When George had chosen the teams, and put Harry and me in the same team, I shot him a grateful glance, which he caught and nodded, smiling slightly. We were playing five against five – my team consisted of: Harry, Draco, Zacharias, Hermione, and me. After Hermione giving us directions of where to go and she went with Zacharias to hide our banner she gave us our roles. Harry and me would be scouts, Draco would try to sneak around completely unnoticed, and Zacharias and Hermione would play defense. I started to follow Harry, letting him take the lead.

"Harry, how are you, really?" I asked trying to coat my voice with as much gentleness as I could.

"Well, it's just like I'm not comfortable with being the leader or anything, I'm not comfortable with anything that requires attention, actually, not since Dursley basically beat it out of me" he took a sharp breath and continued, "and now this Percy guy comes and he's basically a cooler version of me and I - " he hesitated, "he has a _god_ for a parent, how do I compete with that?"

"Harry do you realize that this isn't a competition to see who's the alpha male or something? You come from two different worlds, he comes from the mythology world: running around in quests and defeating titans and giants; and you are one of the most respected wizards of all time Harry! You defeated the Dark Lord you survived the Killing Curse! Don't put yourself down, you're both two different people." We had stopped and were staring at each other. In his beautiful emerald eyes I saw the beginning of insecurity, but he stopped and steeled himself. He nodded came over and took my hand.

"You, Ginny Weasley, are the single most important person in my life," he told me, his eyes shining with pure and undiluted happiness.

"I – I love you Harry," I said, this was the first time I had said it. His eyes started crinkling a smile started tugging at the corners of his mouth.

"And I love you, Ginevra Weasley" I punched him when he said my full name, which just caused him to smile even more; I immersed myself in the moment. The moonlight shining through the trees making silvery patterns on the floor and turning Harry's black hair to halo of silver, the faint breeze rustling and the insects and animals chirping, the orchestra of nature. It was cold, not the freezing cold, but the kind of cold that woke you up with its freshness, the kind of cold that brought a faint flush to the cheeks. We were standing so close together that I could smell him. He had the superficial smell of aftershave but you could detect the earthy smell from being in the woods all day, and under all that the faint smell of sandalwood and crushed almonds.

The sound of footsteps getting louder and louder woke us up from our little dream. Draco burst in took one look at us, chuckled, and said, "Well lovebirds, lets try to get into the game, we are practicing to play against the children of the gods, after all."

Harry started to frown, but I brushed my hand against his and said "Sorry Draco, what's going on anyways?"

"Hermione and Zacharias are currently in a fight against Ron and George – that leaves Luna and Neville which I think are going to be defending the banner and that just leaves Ernie sneaking around somewhere."

"So should we just go through to the banner and take Luna and Neville one – three on two?" We all nodded and started walking, but it wasn't walking so much walking as much as gliding – trying not to disturb the leaves and sticks under our feet.

When we reached their banner (it was Neville and Ernie, not Luna and Neville), Draco had already sighted it before; we had a little team huddle. "So should we just stupefy them now?" Draco asked.

Harry shook his head "The would pull a counter course easily, and the same goes for every other spell we try." We crouched, racking our brains for something that would help us get an edge. Suddenly an idea that was so crazy that it was spectacular came to me. I started grinning; Draco and Harry looked at the manic grin spreading across my face – took one glance at each other and waited for me to explain my plan to them.

"Patronuses."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - Time Skip - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

JASON'S P.O.V.

We were in the Quidditch field, again, trying to learn a sport, which the wizards had known their entire life in only two weeks, and with only one son of Zeus in the team. Yeah, not too psyched. After the wizards explaining us the rules we had gotten to work. Thankfully we only needed seven players, so Percy and Hazels didn't have to fly or anything. There was a moment were that fact was uncertain and Percy and Hazel had gone pale started muttering that they was not going to endanger their life and ran off. I was kind of offended; actually, it's not like my father is _that _bad.

After calming them down and reassuring him that he didn't have to enter my father's realm, Percy became the assistant coach and Hazel became a very critical viewer; you want to know who the coach is? Coach Hedge. After trying and failing to explain to him that Quidditch didn't need a coach we surrendered to his whistle and bat. Coach Hedge then went on to surprise us with his hidden talent for Quidditch tactics. We were zooming around in no time. I do wish his coaching style were a little bit stricter, though, people tended to chat a little bit.

After trying out the different positions we settled on these:

Annabeth, chaser

Piper, chaser

Frank, chaser

Travis, beater

Connor, beater

Clarisse, keeper

Jason, seeker

The wizards had given us brooms, of course, but they weren't the best. Since they had given us three extra brooms (two for substitutes, and one because we tend to destroy things), so Leo took the third extra, went into his workshop with Calypso to make them better. When they were walking away we could hear them tossing ideas around of ways to make them better. They had gone five paces when Leo suddenly turned around and said,

"For the record, I'm never getting onto one of those brooms," when he saw our confused expressions he continued, "well, after the war I sort of went to Olympus to _ask _Zeus to release Calypso." He took a breath, "when he didn't agree right away I sort of tried my new battle prototypes on him." Leo said in an outburst, "Zeus was _so _angry I though I was going to die. Aphrodite however (thanks Pipes) said I was in love and that was the reason I was acting foolishly, so Zeus let it go. He warned me to never access his domain again, unless it was on Festus, or he would turn me to dust. But he said it all with a sort of grudging admiration at courage." He finished with a flex of his biceps. All the girls _awwed _and Calypso kissed him. Leo and Calypso continued their walk to their workshop, whispering promises and secrets to each other.

On another note, Mrs. McGonagall had told us that we could use our powers to some extent, but not enough that we were endangering other people or each other. The wizards could use magic as well, but none of the unforgivable curses or potions that would be considered cheating (i.e. the lucky potion).

As the practices went on our team got really good. Clarisse was an absolute animal in her position. What she did is instead of waiting for the ball to come to her she would charge at whoever was about to throw the ball, striking fear into their hearts. The Stolls were, well, the Stolls. They worked together as if they really were twins instead of just brothers. The chasers were fantastic; they worked together in a way that just flowed. They understood what the others would do before they actually would do it, not to mention Annabeth was always thinking of new ways to improve their strategies. Me? I think I'm doing pretty well; I am the song of the lord of the skies after all.

The two weeks before the first task passed as if it was a blur. All the days had a routine about them: we would go to breakfast, practice, eat, practice, eat again, and sleep. The next day it would start again. By the end we were starting to look like a great team. We also had to practice capture the flag, and at the same time we were doing it the wizards were figuring out their Quidditch strategies, and how they would play. We couldn't help but get really close to the ten wizards that we were competing against they were great and fun people.

It was the day before the competition and we were having our final Quidditch practice when disaster struck. Travis hit his bludger just a little bit too hard, and it hit Piper on the head. Her whole body went limp, her frown of concentration smoothed, her bright red lips parted slightly, and she began falling backwards with her arms outstretched. Hazel screamed. I dashed towards her controlling the winds as I went. Piper started to slow his fall until she was floating peacefully, two meters above the ground. I gently lowered her into my eyes, trying to swallow back the nausea and fear that had started to spread across my whole body.

We carried her to the infirmary, and the nurse said that because Piper was a demigod she didn't want to give him any potions just in case. We gave her some ambrosia to speed up the process but Will predicted it wouldn't be until tomorrow night she woke up (A/N: I know this is unrealistic, but I needed it to happen, sorry Piper). Too late. We turned towards Percy and Hazel, the two remaining and available substitutes. Percy turned pale, while Hazel turned green.

"Not me!" They shouted at the same time. They looked at each other, glaring out of desperation, and started running off again, Hazel leaving a trail of diamonds and other precious stones behind her. Annabeth stopped them in their tracks with a commanding voice that could only come from a child of Athena.

"Perseus Jackson, Hazel Levesque, STOP RIGHT THERE" She shouted.

They both cringed, turning back slowly, not wanting to face the glare that Annabeth reserved only for Percy. Before she could start reprimanding them, however, Percy started talking.

"Rock, paper, scissors?" Percy asked meekly. Hazel nodded. "One, two, three," there was a little pause and then Percy shouted, "Shit! I should've known you would've picked rocks!" He howled desperately.

"You're too attached to Riptide to choose anything that doesn't have a sharp edge," Hazel smirked, looking at him triumphantly. Hazel Levesque had beaten the great hero Percy Jackson, at rock paper scissors. What a time to be alive.

I cleared my throat, "let's get on with practicing shall we? We can't risk losing tomorrow." Everybody nodded, their faces set with determination… except Percy's. He was on his knees, rocking back and forth slightly, praying to my father, his father, and basically ever Olympian to help him get through the match. We dragged him onto the field, Annabeth whispering to him that everything was going to be okay, while she was laughing mercilessly. She appeared to be enjoying this.

When Percy first saw the broom he said, "there is no way in Hades I'm getting on that monstrosity," he gulped a little bit. Everybody was struggling to keep their laughter in check, except me we were wasting valuable training time. I cleared my throat again, and looked meaningfully at Annabeth.

She nodded and said, "Seaweed Brain, honestly, you saved Olympus twice, it's not like Zeus is going to forget that," she paused, making up her mind, "besides, it's not like Zeus cares if you fly a few meters off the ground." Percy looked up at that, hopeful again.

"Actually he does - " I was cut of by Annabeth shooting me a death glare, apparently I was erasing all the progress she had made, "NOT care, does not care, that's what I mean to say – it's all good."

Reassured by everybody egging him on, he shot one final look at Hazel and said, "I envy you," to which Hazel replied, "It's not my fault you're a predictable rock, paper, scissors player."

Percy took one shaky step towards the broom after another. He looked up, giving a final prayer, sat on the broom and started levitating. He was closing his eyes tightly, his hands gripping the broom so hard they turned white. He went up a few more meters, and opened his eyes just a tiny bit, a slit. When he saw nothing was happening he began to gain more confidence.

Needless to say, it took barely five minutes before Percy was flying around, carelessly. He was beginning to enjoy himself, and he was a great Chaser. He and Annabeth worked perfectly together, a team. We were nearing the end of practice when Percy went a little bit too high up. The sky rumbled, and out of nowhere an arc of blinding white light streaked towards us. Or more specifically, Percy. He yelped and raised his arms, trying to block the lightning that he was never going to be able to block, a hero fighting to stay alive. I watched helplessly while my father tried to electrocute Percy Jackson, the hero and savior of Olympus.

Out of nowhere the lightning stopped in midair, mere inches from Percy's outstretched hand. The lightning crackled with electricity, the only sound that could be heard in the Quidditch field. It was strangely beautiful, extremely dangerous, but beautiful. We were all mesmerized what had happened, or more clearly what had almost happened when a voice woke us all up from our dreamlike-state.

"Now, father, that is no way to treat your nephew," a girl said.

**A/N: Thank you again for all the wonderful **reviews**, and follows, and favorites! This is my first fanfic so it really means a lot to me. I would've update sooner, but my wonderful friend Selina (see previous chapter A/N) AGAIN kept me from updating. This time she was playing in a volleyball tournament, needless to say, she won. **

**So, um, who do you guys think it is? The mystery girl, ohhhhhh. I'll try to update as soon as I can. **


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: FOR ALL YOU DRICO/DRACO HATERS: seriously, what is wrong – they are CUTE, besides all there is between them right now is a lot of sexual tension anyways. **

**Answer to a question: Travis and Connor are brothers; I thought that was their whole thing (correct me if I'm wrong)**

**Thank you to all the kind and wonderful people who are reading my story! It's great. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the plot**

Newcomers

Annabeth P.O.V.

Zeus had almost electrocuted the love of my life. The lightning had arced down in blinding seconds, lighting up all of Percy, he had raised his hands as if he could fight this cruel feat of nature. Until. Until it stopped?

"Now, father, that is no way to treat your nephew," a girl said. I knew that voice.

"THALIA!" I shouted racing down on my broom to meet her, she laughed and raised her hands to hug me. I threw myself from the broom; I hadn't seen her for two months, I looked at her, seeing if she looked healthy and okay. She still had that immortality glow about her and still wore those punk clothes, and her black eyeliner highlighted her electric blue eyes, and she was about to open her mouth to speak. She looked great. Talking about great…

"Percy!" I shouted, angry and ashamed at myself for having forgotten for a second that he had just had a near-death experience. Well there were so many death threats directed towards Percy that they sort of blended into each other.

Percy was gently being lowered down by Jason, he was breathing heavily and shakily trying to get air to his lungs. He was shaken, his confident barrier taken down for a second. However, a leader couldn't show fear in front of his followers, so he smiled weakly and said,

"Thanks Thals, your powers have improved since you tried attacking me in that capture the flag game," He tried to laugh but it came off as an asthma attack. He sat down on the floor with his knees drawn up to his chest, looking down and trying to calm down.

I ran over to him, hugging him to my chest "Percy, Percy, Percy a – are you okay?" I breathed in "you need to stop pissing off everybody you meet Seaweed Brain!" I shouted, he laughed, more confidently.

"I'm sorry, Wise Girl," he whispered to me, making me shiver. I replied, "It's okay, Percy, it's not your fault you have a psychotic uncle," the sky rumbled when I said that, but I stood up and shouted at him.

"Yeah Zeus, you ARE psychotic! Got a problem with that?" I raged, "because I know what I have a problem with, you almost ELECTROCUTING MY BOYFRIEND AND THE BOY THAT SAVED OLYMPUS TWICE!" I was about to continue, but Percy pulled me down to him, making me sit on his lap.

I sat down and buried my head on his chest, fighting back the tears that were about to flow. That lighting bolt signified that we were never safe, we were never going to have a normal life, if it's not enemies, then our own family is going to attack us. Percy seemed to know what I was thinking because he said, in a voice that now was more like his own, confident and carefree.

"Annabeth, Annabeth relax it's okay!" When I didn't seem to be calming down he continued in a reassuring whisper in my ear, this was just between me and him, "look, nothing is ever going to come between us, besides a lighting bolt isn't anything we can handle. Remember our first quest?" I nodded shakily, regaining my posture. It seemed weird him comforting me after he was the one who almost died. But that's Percy for you, too loyal for his own good. He kissed my forehead.

Most demigods had made their way over here by now – recognizing the screams, the lighting, and the smell of desperation. I know I'm dramatic, but look at all we've been through, honestly. Anyways, Percy stood up and after taking a few steps he paused and looked at the on looking crowd.

"I'm sorry for disturbing your afternoon, Zeus had one of his little tantrums, everything is fine now," Percy stood up a little taller, and seeing this the campers starting cheering, and then going back to their activities. No wizards yet, great. I looked over at Thalia and nodded, obviously she had used the mist.

When the campers had gone, Percy sagged a little bit against me… until he saw his little brother. "Tyson! How are you buddy?" he ran over, getting a bone-crunching hug from his 'little' brother. They laughed and after catching up Tyson said "I asked permission to Daddy to come for your first and second task, so I can only stay for a little while," He looked around when he spotted me his eye lit up, "Annabeth! I missed you!"

After catching up (and Thalia and Percy started insulting each other, again) we made our way to dinner. When Mrs. McGonagall saw Tyson and Thalia she frowned so I made my way to explain.

"They're here to watch the first and second task, well Tyson is, and I don't know how long Thalia is going to stay." Mrs. McGonagall nodded, and signaled me to get back to my table. I nodded a few boys staring, but I ignored them.

Percy smiled when he saw me coming over, and scooted to leave me some space besides him. We were about to start when a few (a dozen) boys came over to talk to Thalia. Obviously if she hadn't chosen the life of a Huntress she would have suitors lining left and right to date her. Thalia was sitting in front of us, so we watched in amusement and amazement at the wizard's courage in approaching Thalia.

The first one started talking, "Hey baby, you may fall from the sky, you may fall from a tree, but the best way to fall… is in love with me!" Thalia paled at the mention of falling and trees. Percy was killing himself with laughter.

The wizards kept coming, " Do your legs hurt from running through my dreams all night?" Another boy said with a lopsided grin that was obviously trying to imitate Percy's trademark smile. Needless to say, not near as effective.

"Actually, her legs hurt from running around the world all night," commented Travis. Connor continued, "but if her legs don't hurt from that, they hurt from running away from you, boy!" The brothers high fived and the demigods were all cracking up, even the boy with the pick up line was chuckling. The only one who didn't laugh was Thalia, who was gritting her teeth, and her eyes were flashing dangerously.

Before Thalia could commit murder, however, Leo spoke up, "Boys, boys, Thalia here," he put his arm around her, "is not a boy lover." Thalia punched Leo until he moved his arm, proving his point.

However Percy just _had _to continue it, "Yeah, she goes more for… how to say it," He paused considering for a moment, "she hangs around with a lot of _girls_." Thalia yelped reached over and to shock Percy. Before she did he shouted, "you do hang out with a lot of girls, Pinecone Face! The Hunters!" The wizards looked confused, so Travis and Connor decided to explain to them what was going on.

"Now, now, boys, you haven't figured it out yet?" asked Travis maliciously.

"You see the reason she prefers the company of girls over boys is…" Connor left the sentence open.

"She…" Percy took the chance.

"Is a…" Leo continued with a drumroll

"Lesbian!" Finished Travis and Connor triumphantly. The four boys (and many, many demigods) were laughing so hard that they were clutching their stomachs. When the wizards left running, as if they had been shocked – which they probably had – they laughed even harder, Calypso snorted water from her nose. Leo seeing this was going crazy with laughter, his eyebrows lighting up with fire every few seconds.

Thalia was sitting down, looking at her hands and muttering death threats. The sky in the ceiling suddenly filled with thunderclouds. Lightning started sparking; the wizards were fearfully looking up, gulping at the power of the storm that was forming above their heads, even Jason's brow was furrowed a little bit in worry.

Before this could go on further I tried to solve the conflict with diplomacy, "Thalia, you know the guys just did you a favor!" When she looked up, her eyes laced with a dangerous energy and her fingers sparking with electricity I continued hastily, "none of the wizards boys could resist you! Now they won't ever try anything else with you!" When Thalia started to calm down I reached over, grabbed her hand and with my eyes said, _we'll make them pay later. _Thalia instantly got what I was trying to get across and nodded – her mind already set with determination. My mind was buzzing with different prank plans when the Great Doors slammed open, once again.

The smell of freshness, grass and the wild filled my nostrils. I closed my eyes to lose myself on the smell when I heard Percy shout,

"Grover my man! Come over here G-Man!" Percy's shout broke the spell. People started shaking their heads and staring in shock as yet another visitor entered the Great Hall. I guess this wasn't an ordinary dinner for them.

I squealed and hugged Grover, after Percy and him had their little moment, of course. Grover sat between in front of me and between Thalia and Leo, which is probably good since Thalia was still fuming from their little accident. We caught up (Grover paled a little when he was informed that Percy had almost been killed a few hours ago). Apparently the situation with the environment was getting worse, but Grover was doing everything he could. When we asked him about Juniper he blushed furiously and muttered that things were going great. With Grover as Lord of the Wild, he could tell other satyrs to do the work all around the world, while he stayed at Camp Half-Blood. Sort of like the king commanding all his soldiers where to go and what to do. When dessert vanished McGonagall stood up and while she opened her mouth to dismiss us there was a bright flash.

A man with a Hawaiian shirt was smiling broadly at Percy, showing off his crinkles around his eyes. After the two wars the gods are really working hard to connect with their children since they, finally, realized that if they continued this way they would have another Luke fiasco.

"Dad!" Percy shouted gleefully, some of the wizards were frozen in shock their eyes as large as dinner plates.

Poseidon laughed, "Hey Percy! I was just told what Zeus told and I came to check if you were alright?" He turned the last phrase into a question. When Percy nodded and Poseidon checked him over to make sure he wasn't being hiding the truth he continued, "Zeus is going to pay for this, all the Olympians excluding Hera agree with me in the matter that what he did was completely crazy and stupid."

At our confused expressions at the fact that so many Olympians could agree on one opinion, Poseidon sighed and explained, "you see, Dionysus would never admit it but he's fond of his campers; Aphrodite said something about the greatest and most interesting love life since Helen and Paris of Troy had almost been ended prematurely - " I blushed a little, a lot, at that, " – Artemis said that you were surprisingly alright for a man; I mean you're my son so obviously I want to protect you, and all the other Olympians just like you and are grateful that you saved them. Twice." Percy was so embarrassed at the compliments and the attention that he was blushing furiously. His blush turned even deeper, if possible, when the campers started cheering.

Poseidon leaned in and whispered something in Percy's ear, to which Percy nodded and smiled. They hugged once more and before he left Poseidon looked at me, he smiled looked at Percy and nodded his approval. He then waved at Tyson, nodded to the teachers and left with a flash.

When Percy was sitting again he explained, "my dad told me to compete tomorrow, he and the other Olympians would be watching Zeus so that he didn't do anything like that again." The campers cheered, and Leo said, "well just as well since I made all the brooms custom made for each of you guys, so they're kick ass." He paused and Calypso jumped in, "he's not joking they seriously are, you guys are totally going to win."

When we were dismissed Percy jumped up, grabbed my hand, looked at me with his adorable puppy dog eyes and said commandingly, "Let's go." Well, how could I not?

We raced along the shadows; laughing and trying not get spotted. I shouted after Percy, "where are you taking me, Seaweed Brain?" He laughed and said huskily, "you'll see." We started racing up the stairs again. The air started to get a little bit colder and I shivered a little bit. When Percy saw this he stopped, handed me his jacket, and then continued on his crazy quest up the stairs. After what seemed ages we finally ended up in front of a brown door. Percy stopped and looked into my eyes.

"Are you ready, Wise Girl? I hope you're not tired," I snorted when he said this; compared to our training this mad rush had been nothing. He nodded and only said these two words, "be prepared." I frowned this was getting suspicious.

Percy grinned at me one last time and opened the door; I walked in and stopped in dead in my tracks when I took in the sight in front of me. A hundred owls, all of different colors and shapes. There were small, big, grey, white, with spots, or with silver eyes. I hadn't seen an owl in so long! They weren't very common where I live. I closed my eyes instantly relishing in the connection with these animals. When I entered the owls started going crazy, like somebody had given Leo sugar, they started flying about crowding around me and saying things into my mind like, _my queen! My queen! We love you, my queen! _They continued saying things like that, a few started eyeing Percy like they wanted to attack him but I told them, _the son of Poseidon is my boyfriend don't attack him. Yet. _They hooted a little bit louder, and followed my command. I looked at Percy who was leaning against the wooden door giving me that lopsided grin of his. I looked at him in pure joy, I loved these animals and I loved him even more for taking me to them. When he saw me this gleeful his smile grew and he started chuckling at how excited I looked. I signaled him over, and he walked confidently towards me – if a little bit wary of all the owls. They did not have the best history, Percy and owls.

"I take it you're happy then, Annabeth?" Percy asked me proud at his idea and pleased to have gotten this reaction.

"You don't even know how much Percy," I looked into his sea-green eyes tinkling with laughter and kissed him. When he started returning my kiss all the owls started complaining and one owl that was supposedly named Hedwig advocated for all of them, _my queen! Not in here! And not with a sea spawn! Please! _I laughed and told them, _close your eyes, little owls. _

**A/N: So sorry for not have gotten to the first task yet, its coming tomorrow- it turned out too long. Credit for Thalia being supposedly lesbian goes to Selina. Thanks for reading and keep giving me input!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the plot. **

Task (s?)

RON'S P.O.V.

Let's just say I didn't sleep very well last night. I was lying on my bed at night staring at the bed and thinking about the upcoming tasks all night. Neville snoring and Harry making little whimpering sounds (don't tell him I told you that) certainly didn't help with my insomnia. To tell you the truth, I was worried about the tasks. I'm not the Chosen One! I'm his sidekick, and sidekicks don't get the glory, the credit _or _the girl. Although I did get the girl, I guess I'm an unpredictable sidekick. And as luck would have it, just as I started to doze of, my brother was shaking me awake; we needed to go down to breakfast.

When we entered the Great Hall I stole a glance at the demigod table. Needless to say, they didn't look nervous. They were as rowdily awesome as always. Percy and Annabeth were teasing each other, the Ares kids were arm wrestling, the Hephaestus kids had blueprints spread over the table with pencils shoved behind their ears, the Aphrodite's girls were either shouting at the Hermes kids (How _dare _you steal my mascara?) or consulting with each other – the only silent ones were the Stolls and Leo, they had their heads bent in a little huddle, murmuring and consulting; since the Weasley twins, that didn't reassure me at all, instead I gulped and shook my head, trying to ignore the fear that had overtook me. When the wizards caught sight of me, Neville, Harry and George they started cheering and clapping, the Slytherin table along with them. What confused me was that they had no traces of sarcasm and hate in their cheering. Draco had assured us that he was working with the Slytherins to make them… umm… how should I put this? Friendly. Ugh, weird. Never thought I'd say those Slytherin and friendly in the same sentence together.

As me and Harry sat down next to each other, Hermione took her unofficial but unquestioned place in front of us.

"Well?" Hermione stated, looking at us raising an eyebrow.

"Well what?" Asked Harry rolling his eyes.

"How are you feeling? Are you excited? Do I need to spike your drink with a certain lucky potion?" Asked Hermione, bullet-fast. The last question was aimed at me and I blushed a little bit at the little tap-dance somewhere around my tummy.

Before I could answer however, George plopped into the seat besides me with a "don't worry, Granger, Ronny here is fine." After condescendingly tousling my hair he winked at Harry and said, "He _is _our king after all."

However Harry didn't react - his gaze was on the open doors of the Great Hall. I turned around, and sure enough, there was my little sister. Her red hair dancing up in crimson flames, reflecting light from the enchanted ceiling, she was laughing and joking – her bright brown eyes sparkling with life and laughter. Right then her gaze went past George and me and held. I turned around and saw Harry with what-girls-would-describe-as a 'boyish grin,' looking at Ginny. I stole one last glance at Ginny, smirking when she broke the eye contact, continuing with her conversation with Luna and Neville.

George had noticed the exchange as well, but instead of the slight frown that was no grazing my face – he had a happy, ecstatic, _beaming _smile. He clapped Harry on the shoulder and said, "you're soul mates, Potter, I'm glad that I can call you my sister's boyfriend." Harry blushed scarlet red, mumbled his thanks, and began filling up his mouth with scrambled eggs to cover up his embarrassment, right then Ginny began walking in our direction.

As she passed Harry she grazed her fingers along his back, making Harry's ears turn red – however trying to maintain some trace of masculinity he smirked at her and winked at her. Ginny continued walking, if with a little bounce in her step, and went to sit with the friends from her year.

The rest of breakfast went with very little interruption. Everybody talked, gossiped or sat in companionable silence, I did a lot of the latter. I couldn't eat or talk, the nerves were eating me up – somehow Hermione noticed. She reached up, took my hand, and smiled at me. To say the least, the jumpiness I was feeling at that moment had nothing to do with the upcoming Quidditch match.

Ms. McGonagall stood up, cleared her throat and with a carrying voice said, "Competitors, will you please head over to the changing rooms, the uniforms will be waiting for you there. Good Luck, and have fun." The cheers erupted, each side cheering for their own, except a few traitorous 'witches' cheering for their own little team, Percy. The demigod campers were making up for their lack of numbers with sheer vocal-chord strength. I guess perfecting their battle cries could lead to the ear-shattering roar coming from their table.

When we arrived at our changing rooms all traces of laughter, nervousness or anticipation was wiped off our faces, replaced by sheer mortification. I may not know a lot of fashion, but I had the sense that our uniforms were the prime example of a bad uniform. It couldn't be the colors of our houses alone (just red, just yellow, etc.) it has to be all the colors, together. There were horizontal lines, all of different sizes, going around the jersey, all in various shades of green, red, yellow and blue. It was like a rainbow of awful fashion sense.

Ginny broke the silence, "well, at least we are showing our support for gay marriage." The situation was just so ridiculous we all broke down into immature giggles, it's better than crying. Much better, believe me.

The girls went to change to their separate changing room, while we started changing where we were. Suddenly the door barged in and Nico appeared, "All right demigods, listen up, this is what we're going to-" When he saw that this was the wizard changing room, not the demigod one, he stopped dead in his tracks. And when he saw that we were all in the middle of changing he blushed, his eyes skipping over a guy behind me. "Oh, um, sorry guys, I um, thought this was the, um, demigod's, uh, changing room." He blushed, his eyes always skipping to the person behind me, when he left abruptly muttering his apologies his neck a bright red, I raised my eyebrow.

I turned around to see Draco blushing… and shirtless. I raised my other eyebrow, making eye contact with Harry and we both started chuckling. Harry started, "Draco, are you fraternizing with our competitors?" I snorted, while Draco started sputtering.

"No, um, I've never even talked to him… I mean obviously I wanted to… but uh," He paused, took a deep breath, collecting his courage, "is it obvious that I like him, Harry?" He finished off in a rush, looking at Harry with a good-natured challenge in his eyes, not at all embarrassed not that he had admitted his crush. It occurred to me that this was the first time he had called Harry by his first name, I turned towards Harry and he had a similarly shocked expression.

Draco sighed, "look guys, I've told you – I _have_ changed," he ploughed on. "So, do you guys have any tips? I mean I've never dated anyone, obviously, so I don't know how to act…" He trailed off uncertainly.

George picked it up, "look dude, you just need to tell Nico how you feel. I mean, I told Angelina and look how far it has gotten me." He considered for a moment, "although do pick a special occasion, it's more romantic."

An idea flashed into my mind, "Draco! You can ask him to the dance coming up, if it's anything like the Yule Ball then it's bound to be awesome." Everybody nodded, while Draco smiled gratefully.

Harry looked shocked, and a little bit scared, "Wait, wait, wait. Let's rewind here for a second. There's a ball?!" When we all nodded, his complexion turned into a deathly pale and he started muttering, "Oh no, no, Ginny is going to _kill_! I still haven't asked her! Oh God, what am I going to do?" George and me chuckled, after reassuring him that if Ginny already knew about the ball, he would be dead already – so he had a bit of time to sort things out, he visibly relaxed.

"So, should we get on with Quidditch?"

- Time skip -

Harry was making sure the whole team was feeling all right when we heard the voice of the announcer say, "representing Hogwarts and the wizards, here they are! Harry will be playing in the seeker position, while the chasers are going to be Ginny, Draco and Ernie! The two beaters are going to be George and Zacharias, while Ron, the King, will be the keeper. Here they come now!"

We entered the Quidditch pitch to blinding light and deafening cheers. The cheers turned into laughter when they saw our uniforms, but it wasn't a mean laughter – they were laughing with us since we as well were giggling, but that didn't mean I didn't blush. When we paused, waiting for the demigods, Hermione looked at me, straightening my uniform and nervously fidgeting – Quidditch made her nervous.

I could feel a slow smile spreading across my face, "What's going on, Granger, nervous? I thought I was the one going to play, not you."

Hermione frowned stood on her tip-toes and whispered in my ear, "don't you _dare_ get hurt, Weasley." And as a second thought she added, "and don't make you wipe that stupid smile off your face."

As I smiled with an even cheekier grin she sighed exasperatedly and kissed me. My eyebrows shut up in surprise and breathed her in, the soothing freshness of grass and a tang of lemon. Just as quickly as it began, she broke off – took one look at my dazed expression, smirked, and whispered to me again "Percy is the son Poseidon, he's terrified of the sky, use that." She ran off into the stands, I watched as the bushy mane of hair disappeared into the crows, _how did I get this lucky? _

The announcer broke me from my reverie, "and there they are, everybody, the demigods!" We all turned around, snapping my hazy vision into focus onto the demigods.

Their uniforms had a dark mix of purple and orange. The hazy purple color shot with orange turned them into the colour of the sky when the sun was setting. Their broomsticks looked, well blimey they looked amazing. They were all black, but had markings on them that made them tailored exactly for the person using them. For example, through the broom Jason's had icy blue lighting designs on it; Percy's had sea-green waves that seemed to be sliding down; Clarisse's had roaring red drakons; Travis had honey colored wing sandals, while Connor had a staff with serpents coiled around it; Piper's had doves but right under the doves you could see her knife; and Annabeth's had stormy grey owls with architecture plans lined around her broom. At the top of the hilt of all the brooms there was a bronze dragon and the initials L + C; as if that was the maker's stamp. And if the details weren't enough to make them awesome, their design made them aerodynamic, and they looked _fast. _I gulped again, they didn't even look like demigods, and their auras radiated a godly power.

When the we made a team huddle I relayed the information Hermione gave me, "listen guys, Percy is the sun of the god of the sea, so that means that Zeus hates it when he flies in his domain. Can we use that?" I looked over at Harry, who grinned and nodded.

"There's nobody else I would rather play with than you guys, even if we don't win, it's been a privilege knowing you," said Harry.

"Harry, we're not going off to die," chastised Ginny. "Listen guys, I rock, you rock, we rock. We've been playing this sport since we could walk," when Harry coughed she rolled her eyes, "or we make up for it in talent. I know they're cool, but right now let's treat them as if they were Slytherins, okay?" She looked at Draco, "no offence."

"None taken, totally agree," Draco reassured her. After that we went to our brooms, checking over everything – making sure everything was all right.

Before we took off Harry looked at me and grinned, "Make sure the chasers don't get any balls in or I'll be forced to give you detention, keeper."

I chuckled, "You make sure the son of the god of the sky doesn't beat you to the Snitch, seeker." After chuckling and clapping me in the back Harry went to make sure the rest of the team was doing okay, a great commander, that one.

We shook hands with the demigods, all traces of joking around gone - it was time for business.

Jason the captain and seeker of the demigod team shook hands with Harry. They gave each other weak grins, but really, their mind was already immersed in the competition. My hands were skipping lightly over my broom trying to contain my nervous energy and reserve it for the game. I risked a glance towards the other team; they were laughing and joking around – no nervousness there. I steeled myself and gulped, Madam Hooch was counting down.

"All right players, I want a good game but I want it fair. I trust that both sides are familiar with the rules of Quidditch?" She made eye contact with Jason, who nodded slowly – if a bit hesitant, I noticed his eyes look over at Percy who was already grinning back, knowing that if anybody didn't know the rules, it would be him. At the grin, the girls in the stands started chanting his name as if they were shouting one of the miracles of life (Annabeth scowled at them).

"All right, everybody have fun and play fair," She paused, "Three."

I breathed in deeply, the traces of nerves gone, I could still feel the lingering presence like as if a ghost had gone through me, but now it woke me up. I looked up at the sky. Perfect Quidditch conditions.

"Two"

I exchanged smiles with Harry; this was going to be fun.

"One"

I looked up and locked eyes with Hermione, gave her one last cheeky grin and…

The whistle blew. We all kicked off from the ground hard, speeding towards our positions. The demigod's brooms really were faster, just like Harry's firebolt – if not faster. Ginny had gotten possession of the Quaffle first, and now the Chasers were speeding off, with demigods hot on their tales. Perfect, this gave me the breathing room to get to my goal posts.

"And that's Ginny Weasley with the Quaffle, with a quick pass to Draco," the announcer started off excitedly, "Draco dodges around Frank Zhang quickly… and that's Draco Malfoy for you! Great goal, and ten points to the wizards!"

"Frank Zhang!" I could hear Percy shouting as they followed Annabeth on their rush towards the goal posts, "your father is the god of defense! Do I need to get a paternity test?"

Frank smiled, "you're too dramatic for your own good, Perce." Right then George shot a Bludger in Frank's direction and it would've hit him if Jason hadn't streaked towards them – bumped Frank out of the way and shouted, "Jackson, don't make me kick you out, concentrate!"

With a grin on his face, Percy caught the ball Annabeth had passed backwards since Ernie was about to block her shot. Percy passed it to Frank, who after dodging Ginny returned it to Percy. I was around the lower hoops, and when Percy made a shot to the top one I angled my broom vertically… but I wasn't going to reach it in time. I placed my foot on top of my broom's hilt and jumped.

I was flying, soaring – momentarily. The roars of the crowd dimmed, the wind took their place. The blood rushed, a steady pounding, I felt like a thousand of my brother's firecrackers had been set across my body. With my fingers reaching up straining against hope and reason, I touched it. Time stopped, I was suspended and dangling in the air as if I was flying. Gravity didn't have a hold on me, and it was like I was in one of those Muggle photographs Hermione had showed me, unmoving - frozen in time and space, forever remembered and forever preserved. I smiled at the thrill. Heck, who needed drugs? As I reached the apex of my what-some-might-call-crazy-but-really-heroic jump I cupped the ball in my hand and threw it Draco, who seemed hypnotized by my leap. When I started flying… towards the floor, I reached my arm out, grabbed my broom, and swung onto it. Safely. I exhaled thinking that this is what those crazy Muggles feel like when they jump out of an airplane. Unbeatable, Alive, Immortal. I smiled; Quidditch was going to be the death of me.

As I broke off from the adrenaline rush I notice things, like the crowd. They were all in a state of madness; they were shouting, "Weasley is our King!" Even the Percy cult decided I was important enough to cheer for, the demigods were clapping. Everybody was jumping up and down and I noticed that Ms. McGonagall was cheering _especially _loudly. They were stomping their feet, making as much sound as possible trying to communicate across, through their shouts and roars (literally, in Luna's case) their excitement, and appreciation. I chuckled; even the Slytherins seemed to be intent in shattering my eardrums.

- Time skip -

Over an hour and a half passed before the Seekers first caught sight of the Snitch.

With our Chasers going very high off the ground, and Percy being unable to cross an unquestionable line – they only had two defenders to contend with. We started pulling ahead about five minutes after my leap of faith, scoring three or four goals to one the demigods; but to be fair, most of their goals were due to my distractedness, _Hermione sure knows how to whistle. _

After an hour we were about 100 points ahead of them, after another half an hour we were 180 points ahead – we had it in the bag, if Harry could manage to catch the snitch. The demigods were amazing, but there was no way they could contend with the wizards sport, you see, many people say Quidditch is a lifestyle. That's wrong, Quidditch is what we stay alive _for; _and I know that that sounds dramatic (and I have been taunted by Hermione because of my obsession), but hey, you can't really blame us.

I had just saved another goal, and passed it to Ernie when a Bludger streaked towards me, I tried to turn out of the way, but this is one followed my movements. I was hit on the shoulder, hard. I groaned as a million stars exploded into a supernova, I experienced all colors, but none at the same time. If it wasn't for the almost unbearable pain screaming in my shoulder, I would've thought the experience beautiful. Losing my grip on my broomstick I started falling backwards. For the second time. I swear I was more airborne in this game that on the actual broomstick. Luckily I was guarding the bottom hoop, not the top ones – but it was still a very large fall. I crashed down on the sand with a great plop. My mind could see my onrushing teammates through my haziness. I don't know what hurt me the most, the Bludger or the fall. I tried to move my arm. Ouch. Definitely something broken.

"Ron!" Harry shouted crashing besides me. He kneeled and when he tried to move my arm my shoulder's throbbing peaked, a sharp blade of hurt pierced through me. My mind couldn't decide if my eyesight should go black, or if I should see stars, it settled somewhere in the middle.

It dawned on me that George was asking me something, when I asked him to repeat his question he answered with a, "Not listening, huh. It seems that nothing happened to his mental facilities, still as dim as ever." When I protested and Harry shot him a look he sighed, "Ron, can you continue playing?"

"Of course he can't!" Exclaimed Draco, rolling his eyes, "he broke his shoulder for crying out loud!"

"Obviously you're not familiar with the Weasley's golden rule," sighed Harry.

When Draco frowned Ginny lightened up, "If you're not about to die, dying or dead," She started with a sparkle in her eyes.

"You shall _never,_" continued George.

"And we mean ever," added a proud Ginny, with a bounce in her step.

"They do mean ever, I'm afraid, the Weasley's are raging lunatics when it comes to Quidditch," interrupted Harry, sighing again.

"Never, ever, fail to interrupt or end a game of Quidditch prematurely," I confirm, forcing myself to stand up. "Listen, I'm going to do what I can do, but there's no way I can cover three hoops on my own, I'm going to need someone to guard the two on top."

Harry nodded, "Zacharias, I think George can do the Beater job on his own, you're up," when he started to protest Harry shot him a look – that shut him up quickly.

With Zacharias on the two top goals we started losing points quickly. I could only moan and grown with the rest of the audience when Annabeth and Frank shot two goals through Zacharias's defense in quick succession. The demigods started targeting his goals, not mine, and I seethed while I watched him completely mar what it means to be a Keeper. Always going towards the first faint, not bothering to cover the other one; not sure of himself; always double guessing which goal the Quaffle is going to go through… and I could go on, but right then Percy sunk in another goal.

150 points ahead of them.

Harry and Jason noticed something along the floor at the same time. As they started diving down the crowd went crazy, their sole attention fixated in the extraordinary dive – but not the demigod Chasers. Annabeth passed it to Percy, who dove and spun around our defense. He was about to shoot the ball through the highest hoop and Ernie; the only hope between him and Zacharias stepped up to block him. Time seemed to slow down; Percy made a quick pass to Frank, completely undefended. Frank became a blur towards the unguarded goal, I tried to meet him there, but my godamn shoulder stopped me. Frank sunk it in, much to joy of the demigod side of the stands.

140 points ahead of them.

I turned towards the Seekers that while the goal had been scored, had reached the end of their dive, stretching and straining to be the hand that closes and traps the furtive golden ball. Just for a moment, but it was the moment Jason needed Harry seemed to stop completely – suspended in the air. Stopped by an invisible barrier that refused to let Harry through, a wall of air. Jason rose out of the dive, Snitch clutched in his triumphant hand. And as Madame Hooch blew the whistle that ended the game, Jason's teammates reached him, and they became a group hug, and impermeable huddle of victory.

10 points behind them.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: sorry for not updating in like forever but yeah, I hope this makes up for it.**

**Disclaimer: No I'm not J.K. Rowling and/or Rick Riordan, and I'm for sure not making any money out of this. **

Symphony of Silence

(DRACO)

"YOU CHEATER!" Shouted Harry, almost shaking (I knew what could get Potter angry, and injustice certainly riled him up) "How dare you? I could've hexed you, and then I would have gotten the snitch first, you could've told me we were using our abilities before we started! I thought we were competing fairly," Jason turned around when he realized that this was aimed at him, he tilted his head to the side with a curious frown and confused eyes.

"Pardon me, Harry?" Jason said, attempting a weak grin, "what are you talking about, exactly?"

"You _know _what I'm talking about!" When Jason didn't say anything, Harry sighed exasperatedly. "The barrier! The barrier of air I couldn't get through. Ring any bells?"

"Harry, I can assure you that I didn't control the winds in any way during the game." He paused and then amended, "unless you count slowing Ron's fall from the hoop, he would've broken more than some bones if I hadn't slowed him down."

Where _was_ Weasley? I turned around to see Ron sitting down on the ground little paces away, Madame Pomfrey tending to his shoulder while Hermione encouraged and reprimanded him for being so stupid at the same time. She looked up, caught me staring, and frowned. Sighing, I gave her a weak smile and a sigh; gaining the approval from these Gryffindors was proving to be a challenge.

"Harry, I'm telling you, I did not control the winds to form a barrier!" Jason was getting a little bit annoyed, "Honest! Scout's Honor."

I frowned, "What's a Scout?"

"Muggle thing," I heard somebody whisper behind me. I turned around, meeting the dark eyes of Nico di Angelo.

Grinning I asked, "I take it you're familiar with muggles?"

"I'm half a muggle, or human, if that's what you mean."

I frowned, could it be that I was some strange combination of magic and muggle-ness as well? He looked at the demigods in more interest, they were part _god _and instead of persecuting the muggles they protected them. Why was it that us wizards felt such a need to purify our race? No. Not all wizards were driven by the pureblood mania. He sighed again, looking at the Gryffindors, they were on the right side and he had mocked them for it. _Thank god they won, _I thought, shuddering to think of the world now if the side he had 'chosen' had won.

Nico however misunderstood my frowns and sighs he frowned and pointed out. "You know, I can't imagine you being part of that – what's his name – oh yeah, Voldemort's side. You don't seem to be that kind of guy."

"But I was."

"Why?"

"If a man is told lies his whole life, at some time or another they become the truth."

"Doesn't mean you had to believe it though."

"It does though." When Nico raised his eyebrows Draco struggled to explain, "It's like… Ever since I could learn things, I was taught that I was part of a purer race. I was a _Malfoy _more important than other wizards," he hesitated with a sour expression on his face, "they taught me to hate mud – uh - muggle-borns and muggles alike. They were a 'threat' to the wizarding race. Hell, they even taught me ballroom dancing and French! I was isolated, no way to get another point of view across, and when I was sorted into Slytherin – well, let's just say that there were many others both supporting and encouraging that view. It grew until some point it was who I was." I laughed with no traces of mirth in it, "a Death-Eater protégé."

"Why did you hate Harry then?"

"The mania was my life – it was who I was. It was as if," struggling to find an example I improvised, "it was like I thought, I _believed _whole-heartedly that the Earth was square, that there were edges to it. Then Columbus came along (that's Harry, if you didn't get that, Nico) and starts telling us that the Earth is round. I attacked him, because, well, he was saying the Earth was round instead of square, like I believed it was."

When Nico didn't say anything for a few moments I plunged ahead, "did that make any sense? Because my analogy was off-the-charts and that would be a real waste if - "

"Columbus wasn't the first one to speculate that the Earth was round," interrupted Nico.

"What?"

"Yeah, it was this Greek philosopher Pythagoras."

"What."

"Did you not hear me?"

"I did hear you, that was more of a whoa-revelation-I-cannot-believe-this kind of 'what.'"

"Ok." He raised an eyebrow.

We looked at each other for a few seconds before he asked me, "How do you know about Columbus anyways?"

"Um… I've been reading up, actually." I could feel a blush that was completely out of character staining my cheeks a soft pink. "How do you know about Pythagoras?"

He grinned, "He was Greek" as if that was enough explanation. We looked at each other for one more second, and I was certainly _not _noticing how there were slight, miniscule, freckles dusted across his face, or that the skin around his eyes crinkled into tiny ripples when he grinned, or that his eyes were shining with something that resembled a surprised happiness, and that the color of his eyes was not a single shade of black but… Certainly was not. The commotion somewhere around us broke my little staring-trance. God, I was pathetic.

"Harry, I'm telling you for the last time." Jason looked meaningfully at him, "and I mean the last, I did not. I repeat. I did not use my power over wind to get the snitch!"

Harry appeared almost bored, "Come on, Grace, I'm getting tired – just admit to it." Jason was about to reply when Percy interrupted.

He cleared his throat, involuntarily my eyes turned towards him, he unconsciously demanded the control of my attention, "Stop this. Now. Are you hearing me? Potter, Grace, I mean it. We'll split the points, I did see a barrier stop Harry, and it doesn't matter who it was," he glared at Jason who was about to protest, "I didn't come all the way over here to fight, everybody grow up a little bit, all right?"

There was a snicker behind him and Percy turned to find Annabeth suppressing a smile, "are you mocking me, babe?"

"I told you to never call me babe, idiot!"

"Look who's talking."

"Did you just really call a child of Athena an idiot? Wow Perce," noted Grover. "You were always kind of 'out there' but now. Well. Let's just it's more pronounced now."

"Lord, what fools these mortals be!" Exclaimed Percy with a flourish.

"First of all, don't quote Shakespeare at me," deadpanned Annabeth, "second of all, you're not a mortal – you're a _demigod." _She furrowed her eyebrow, "and thirdly, how the _hell _did you just quote Shakespeare?"

"Ah, that is more I to know, and you to find out." Percy replied, Annabeth was raised her eyebrow and was about to continue when an all-mighty pop resounded through the Quidditch pitch. A man around his forties, with a pin-striped suit, blonde hair, and electric blue eyes that resembled that of Jason's and Thalia's stood in front of us.

"Father, good morning." Greeted Jason with a slight smile and a formal nod.

"Dad, how are you?" Thalia was more relaxed when she talked to her father, with a more relaxed posture – unlike Jason who had come to attention, I could relate.

Her father…

Zeus.

The god of gods.

I dropped to my knees, and people around me starting following my example. After everybody had dropped down, the only people that remained standing were Jason, Thalia, Annabeth and Percy.

"Hello wizards, demigods," Zeus began in a booming voice that radiated power and command. "Jason, Thalia how are you?" He nodded at Annabeth – studiously ignoring Percy.

"We're fine father, thank you for asking." Began Jason.

At the same time Percy started talking, "hello, uncle, it's nice to see you." Zeus looked at him with mildly concealed dislike and maybe just a little bit of admiration.

"Perseus."

"Zeus." Imitated Percy. "Oh yeah, I appreciate you giving me that free pass while flying in that airplane." He smirked, "and for that lighting bolt as well, a touching gesture."

Zeus was about to respond – he had a slight angry flush to his cheeks now - when Thalia interrupted, "dad is there a reason you're gracing us with our presence this fine and sunny morning?" There was only a slight sarcastic edge to her voice.

"Actually yes, I wanted to inform you that I formed that barrier that stopped you," he nodded towards Harry, "to stop you."

"So there was a barrier!" Pronounced Harry, triumphantly.

"Why exactly would you do that, father, sir?" Asked Jason.

"I wanted reassurance you would win, I mean you are my son after all. You have to win in these kinds of events." Explained Zeus slowly, as if he was informing us of the most obvious thing in the world.

"I'm sorry father, but I don't think that wa -" Started Jason.

"I should be leaving, Hera awaits." Interrupted Zeus, "goodbye to you all." And with that he left, the sky becoming a bit brighter, bluer, if that was possible.

"Um, what just happened?" Asked Ron.

"What just happened indeed." Commented Ernie.

"Jason's daddy just cheated for tinny-mini-Jason," explained Travis, with a completely serious expression.

"What do the gods do all day now?" Asked Annabeth. "I'm sorry but… isn't there anything more important than a Quidditch match?"

"No." Ginny replied.

"Under no circumstances." Continued George.

"Quidditch shall triumph over pain, suffering, happiness, and excitement." Proclaimed Ron, "I'm serious Potter, shut up."

"Well it seems you're going to have to sort out your priorities there, Annabeth." Harry said to her a mixture of laughter and exasperation. Annabeth smiled and nodded.

"Harry, it might not have been my fault – but my family cheated," Jason turned towards Potter, "we'll split the points, consider it even." They smiled and shook on it.

"Well, this is all nice and chummy," sighed George, "but I'm in the mood for some firewhiskey."

"Weasley!" Shouted Mrs. McGonagall, who had wondered closer and closer to the crowd, and only appeared at that moment.

"Only kidding, Minnie." Responded George with a little smirk, she raised her eyebrow and reprimanded him, but I swear I saw something twitch in her jaw. When she wandered of the Stoll brothers approached George.

"What's firewhiskey?" Chorused Travis and Connor.

Oh no.

- Time Skip -

(PERCY)

"Lovers alone wear sunlight," sighed Annabeth looking at Jason and Piper running ahead of them. Jason's glowed like molten gold and Piper's hair was shining with the bronzes and light browns that only the sun could highlight. When I turned and tilted my head to side at Annabeth inquisitively (we were halfway to the castle, in one of the secluded hills).

"E.E. Cummings," Annabeth responded to my head tilt, I nodded, Annabeth was in love with love poetry and quotes – it made it hard for her because she was dyslexic but one way or another she always found a way to read_ more_.

"Aha, they sure are wearing it though."

"Yup."

"The same goes for Nico and Draco then."

"What?"

I pointed at them, walking back to the castle together, laughing at something Draco had said. Their hair was gleaming as well, a startling contrast: bright silver and a refined black.

"Day and night." Murmured Annabeth, a slight line appeared between her eyebrows.

"I dig them together." I sighed, sitting down and stretching my legs. "Find what you love and let it kill you, right?"

"Charles Bukowski, nice." Commented Annabeth appreciatively, leaning against me as she sat down. "Are you going to tell me how exactly you're the literary genius these days?"

When my lips remained firmly closed she continued, "I mean, classic rock I understand – you're in love with that stuff, but poetry? Quotes?"

"You're rubbing off on me, I can't stop." I continued excitedly, "and Athena gave me this book - "

"Hold on, my mother is recommending _books_? To _you?_" Annabeth stared at me.

Damn.

"Oh yeah – uh – we're on the same… um… book club!" I nodded, "after the war I realized my, uh, passion for books." Annabeth still stared at me, which wasn't helping my concentration, "so I asked Athena, that's your mother."

"I know my mother's name."

"Obviously." I stared into the retreating mass of students, hoping I could scramble up a more reasonable sounding excuse, "I also, um, wanted to talk to you about the things you like." I finished triumphantly, and kissed her to distract her from any more questions.

I certainly couldn't let her know the conditions Athena gave me if I wanted to m—

I'm getting ahead of myself.

I murmured, "I love you," against Annabeth's lips because it was true. I had this boiling expanding ache inside my chest that wouldn't go away until I said those words: that release, an exhale. It never went away, I wasn't only in love with Annabeth, I constantly and repeatedly, fell in love with her – again and again and again. And as she kissed me, circling her arms against my neck and pulling me closer to her I gasped – because everything she did caused a gasp from me. Incredulousness. Incredulous that she would love me.

I smirked jumped up to my feet, and dragged Annabeth up with me. Grabbing her waist I started dancing, without any music – a symphony of silence, of love. Because as she laughed, pressed her face against my chest and let me lead her through the dance, we didn't talk. We communicated with touches, sighs, smiles. And it that moment, with her golden hair escaping her ponytail, straying around her face and her grey eyes staring into mine, communicating mutely - I realized I had just fallen in love, again.

Screw French, silence is the language of love; I made a mental note to ask Piper about that.

Annabeth stood on her tiptoes and whispered in my ear, smiling, "I love you." I shivered and closed my eyes, immersing myself on her warm breath spreading heat all through my body, a combustion – a thousand nerves lighting up, for her.

"Come on, we better go check the Stolls don't do anything stupid." I said, because I swear, one more moment and I would have asked her, ruined my plan.

"You better get used to that reality, Jackson." Annabeth rolled her eyes, and I smiled, grabbing her hand and already heading back to the castle. And if you had asked anyone at that time they would have said that their hair was shining, gleaming, sparkling with the brilliance of a thousand suns.

**A/N: Well, that's it! A lot of fluff, not a lot of action – sorry guys I needed a filler in between. Also important question: what p.o.v. do you guys want me to write in for the next chapter? **

**Thank you so much for reading, review and tell me what you think!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the plot. **

Patronuses, Ships and Capture the Flag

(GINNY)

Being woken up by freezing water is not nice. At all. Something I certainly need to mention to my best friend, Samantha Vende. Although being unceremoniously drenched in water spawned by the devil certainly achieved its unnatural task: waking me up before seven.

"I would like to cancel the signed agreement of our friendship, Sammy," I gasped through the pain of the sunlight burning my eyes.

"Can't, the contract states that our friendship has to last at least 45 years from the date it was signed," Sam informed me.

"Isn't there a loop-hole?"

"No."

"Damn."

"I know, we shouldn't have made long-term arrangements." Sam looked at me and frowned, "what the hell are you doing?"

I looked up from my bowed, Buddha-like position, "I'm trying to warn the alternate universe, twelve year old me not to approach the scary looking girl that will later in life commit the inhumane task of pouring cold water over my beautiful, peacefully sleeping face of the alternate universe, twelve year old me."

"You snore, by the way."

"I do not!"

"Yes you do, the truth hurts."

"Well, at least I don't drool."

"What? I would like to inform you, Ginevra, that – "

"Oh good, you woke her up," cut in Emma, emerging from the bathroom – her auburn brown hair styled in shining waves, sky-blue eyes wide with surprise. "An impossible task, congratulations are in order – you show promise, my young apprentice."

Sammy bowed with an "everything is possible under your guidance, my liege."

"You're making me sound like Kim Possible," said Emma.

"Who's Kim Possible?" I asked while brushing my teeth.

"An inspirational and moving figure in the Muggle world," replied Sam, her ever-changing grey eyes tinkling as she brushed her long, jet-black hair.

"Moving figures indeed," muttered Emma, glancing at the clock, "Let's go, we're going to miss breakfast," and grabbing our books, we went.

Harry was waiting for us by the doors of the Great Hall, when he saw me he adjusted his glasses and sauntered over to us. He kissed me in the cheek, bowed gracefully and in a formal voice asked, "May I escort you to breakfast, Ms. Weasley?" He held out his arm to me and I was about to take it when,

"Nu-huh," said Sam, "she's eating with us, Lightning boy." She and Emma started pulling me away.

"Sorry Potter," cried Emma over her shoulder in a faux remorseful tone, "'chicks before dicks' and 'bros before hoes,' it's a rule."

"Did you just call me a whore?" Harry looked outraged.

"You will have to submit a formal invitation to dine with Ms. Weasley to either of us," Sam pointed to her and Emma, paying Harry no heed, "or more commonly known: the mafia, two weeks in advance."

"And besides, this isn't the nineteenth century, who bows and formally asks their lover to breakfast anyways?" asked Emma.

"I was trying to be romantic!" Harry defended himself through his laughter, "and besides, Ginny isn't just some lover, she is my one and only, the love of my life."

I tried to ignore the painful weight of happiness that had installed itself over my chest, making it hard to breathe. It wasn't only what Harry had said but also the easiness in which he said it, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

I responded, "It was romantic," Harry grinned, his green eyes flashing, "But I prefer grander things, like that one time you killed the basilisk for me. Now _that_ was romantic."

Sam and Emma shouted, "You're slipping, Potter" they then proceeded in dragging me out of earshot before he could respond.

"Ew, get your cute relationship out of my sight," grumbled Sammy.

"Seriously," agreed Emma, "I'm about to choke on my own vomit."

"Gross," me and Sam chorused, sitting down to eat – after exchanging smiles with the demigods.

Halfway through breakfast a boy straddled the seat next to Sam. Startling blonde hair, highlighted by the sun and combed to perfection, light green eyes with rings of golden light sparkling, a beaming and kind smile lighting up his features – that was currently directed to Sam. Me and Emma exchanged looks, who the hell was this gorgeous kid?

"Morning Will," greeted Sam, buttering her toast, completely ignoring our looks of surprise.

"Hullo Sam," he looked around, "and friends of Sam."

"Oh Merlin, I didn't introduce you," Sam said quickly. "Ginny, Emma, meet Will –" The beautiful boy gracefully shook our hands " - seventh year Ravenclaw and my Potions tutor."

"Nice to meet you ladies," Will started politely, but was drowned out by our cries of protest, "Sam you don't need a tutor!" and "Why didn't you ask me? I'm literally a 'whiz' when it comes to that subject."

"Slughorn assigned me to her," Will explained.

"And I am pretty disastrous at Potions," Sam raised an eyebrow – daring us to contradict her.

"She is horrible, I can attest to that," Will 'whispered' cheekily to us before we could respond.

Sam punched him in the arm, "is there a particular reason you're gracing us with your presence, William?"

"Uh, yes, actually it wasn't just so I could look at you from closer, Sam – by the way, did you know that your eyes actually have a bit of blue in them? Not just grey? Not that grey isn't a spectacular color, of course - I was going to ask you if you would agree at having our tutoring session today at seven outside, it's a beautiful day – and one of the final ones before it gets cold – it would be a waste," Will said, staring at Sam.

We stared back at him at him.

"So, uh, what do you think?" Will asked again, more nervously this time.

"Um, yeah, sure… um I'll meet you, er, outside then?" Sam stammered, the redness on her face rivaling my own hair.

Will nodded to each of us in turn, "Ginny, Emma, a pleasure." He looked at Sam, "See you at seven." And with a cheeky grin, he left.

"Did he just profess his love for you?" I asked, breaking the shocked silence.

"In a creepy, stalker-ish way?" continued Emma.

Sam seemed to be interested in a retreating figure heading over to the Ravenclaw table, or more importantly how well his Hogwarts uniform fit him. "Sam, are you listening?" Emma asked. I threw a piece of bread at her, instantly getting her attention. It seems projectiles of bread and cold water are the only way of achieving your goals these days.

"What?" Sam looked at us, resurfacing from her thoughts.

"Feelings, go." I demanded.

"Um, I guess I'm happy? He is kind of cute, isn't he?" Sam asked.

"Cute?" Emma snorted, "more like drop dead smoking hot."

"Are you going to go for it?"

"Er, this is the second time I've talked to him, ever."

"I ship it," sighed Emma.

"What do you mean ship?" I asked, "how does it, in any way affect romance."

Emma responded with a "in every way," at the same time Sam said off-handedly, "It's a tumblr thing."

"What's a tumblr?" I asked again, feeling out of the loop.

"Merlin, you don't know about tumblr," Grace looked at me incredulously, "it's a Muggle thing, don't worry."

"How do you know so much about Muggles? I understand Emma, she's Muggle born, but Grace you're a pureblood." I asked Grace.

"My dad made us, once a month, go on vacation and act as if we had no magic – not even the grownups could use it," Grace rolled her eyes, "so we could learn to appreciate what we have, or something. I picked up a few things."

"We're getting off-track!" Emma said, "so, what are you going to do about a certain Mr. Cheeky?"

"I guess I'm going to wait after tutoring to see how he really is before I act?"

"That's my girl," I squeezed her shoulder.

Right then there was an explosion from the demigod table. I stood up to see what was happening, the scene was chaotic, to say the least. There was smoke coming from Clarisse's ear, and when they formed letters around her head saying things like, _World peace is the answer _and _Trade your spears with flowers, take a page out of Demeter's book _and _bow down to Percy Jackson, not only is he Olympus's hero, he also fights much better than me _and even _war and fighting aren't everything, love is. _Each new saying brought fresh laughter to the demigods - Percy was banging his head on the table, tears of laughter squeezed out of his eyes. I looked around for the Stoll brothers, sure they were the cause of it, but found them shaking a boy's hand – his back was towards us – and shouting things like "Brilliant," and "A stroke of genius," Leo approached the scene clapped the boy on the shoulder and said "Lucas, you're an inspiration for human kind."

Clarisse caught sight of said boy, and he ran off before we could place a face to 'Lucas' - his legs carrying far and fast away from the literally fuming girl who was shouting bloody murder while the letters above her head still said things like: _go vegan, meat isn't that great _and _they're not really muscles; steroids are great _and _diplomacy solves everything._

Well, after that – the day was pretty boring. And pretty soon, with one day blending into the next, it was capture the flag day.

Hermione, thankfully, had petitioned Ms. McGonagall to change the uniforms. They were now a simple black, ninja-like, outfit with the Hogwarts crest outlined in white in the center of the chest. They were modest, but they would help today while sneaking around in the dark. We had said goodbye to the cheering crowds at the castle, as they couldn't follow us during the task, they would watch through a giant screen Leo had built up – that would be following the mot interesting parts of the game.

"Remember guys," Hermione was looking at each of us in turn in our group huddle at the edge of the Forbidden forest. "Their weapons can deflect our curses, but they are not immune to it."

"So if we hit them fast enough and they don't have time to block it – the curses function in the same way it would affect a wizard?" Ernie asked, scratching his head.

"That is the general idea, yes," Hermione nodded.

"So, deducting the unforgivable curses – we can use any we want?" Justin raised his eyebrows.

"Yup."

"So does everyone know what do to?" Asked Harry, we all nodded in return – we had practiced for this moment for ages. "Remember: offence is the best defense."

McGonagall's amplified voice rang through the forest: "Any team that breaks the already established rules will forfeit from the task, win or lose. Play fair, and have fun – and wizards and witches try not to embarrass me. The game will start in three, two, one, begin."

If you would have been in the audience, you would have seen the demigods break away with an easy grace to perform their tasks: Leo, Piper and Hazel guarding their flag; Frank, Clarisse and Jason just charging ahead; Percy and Annabeth scouting off to the right; and the Stoll brothers testing the area to set any traps on the left.

I breathed in and out and thought of Harry, the feeling of flying that took place somewhere deep in my gut every time he kissed me or smiled at me or just looked at me with his emerald eyes tinkling and giving me a look. A look just for me. The way he said my name cherishingly, almost reverently, and most of all: when he said he loved me.

"_Expecto Patronum," _I whispered. Looking around I saw that all my teammates had little goofy smiles playing around in their faces, the traces of happiness. For weeks, Harry had worked with each and every one of us: making sure we had our patronuses ready for today. It worked.

"Does everybody remember who they chose?" Harry said. We nodded.

I turned towards my gleaming stallion, "Message to Annabeth: Boom." All around me my teammates were saying similar things, we had chosen our pairs this way: Hermione with Piper; Ron with Hazel; Ernie with Leo; Justin with Clarisse; me with Annabeth; Harry with Percy; George with Travis; Luna with Jason; Neville with Connor; and Draco with Frank.

You see, the plan is simple. We decided to hide our flag really well, and then attack all at once. All in, or nothing. We were going to use our patronuses to deliver messages to the demigods, but we would follow our patronus. The idea was that when, in my case, Annabeth heard my message (Boom) I would be right behind, having followed my stallion, and in her surprise hex her. With all of us following, and hexing the demigods, it would leave all our competitors taken care of, while we looked for their flag in peace. My mind surprises even me sometimes. Brilliant.

My horse and Harry's stag began to move in the same direction, we grinned at each other. It was difficult keeping up with the two charms, but we managed: albeit with a lot of huffing and puffing. When we arrived Annabeth and Percy were in a clearing. They were startled at the sudden presence of two shining and rearing animals. Me and Harry's voice rang through the clearing at the same time in harmony: Boom.

"_Cantis,_" I shouted my spell hitting Annabeth, causing her to burst into a song: _If you're happy and you know it and you really want to show it, if you're happy and you know it clap your hands. _

Percy who was about to dodge out of Harry's spell (_Confundo!_) stopped and stared at his girlfriend who was still singing at the top of her voice, and was now on the 'stomp your feet' section of the song. He started laughing uncontrollably, and when the _Confundo _spell hit him he looked around, frowning.

"I'm really sorry about this you guys," I lamented, and again in harmony me and Harry cast our spells, "_Petrificus Totalus!"_

They both went rigid, and we caught them before they fell back and hurt themselves. Annabeth seemed to be singing the song in her head, as she was unable to do it physically, and Percy looked at us questioningly, completely befuddled. The rest of the demigods suffered a similar fate: and since Ron's, Hermione's and Ernie's patronuses lead them straight to the ones defending the flag, we had no trouble finding it. We won, within ten minutes from the beginning of the game.

All in, or nothing.

It seems we went all in.

**A/N: I hope you enjoyed the chapter! There were a few: and more to come? Characters that came from *gasp* my imagination. Read and review you guys, hope you're liking the story.**

**Merry Christmas!**

**- C**


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